Norwich City v Preston North End: David Wagner preview

City face Preston at Carrow Road in what Wagner sees as an opportunity to kickstart their struggling home form, with recent wins against Bristol and Cardiff coming on the road. A freefalling Preston side arrive in NR1 with a manager under pressure in Ryan Lowe, the worst form in the Championship and on the back of three consecutive league defeats. It’s hard to argue with Wagner’s assessment.

But he’ll need the help of the Norwich faithful, as he looks to resurrect an atmosphere joint majority shareholder Delia Smith described as “like church mice” last week. [embedded content] “We know how it feels if you are on a bad run, which they are now,” he said. “This makes it even bigger that all of our supporters on Saturday give us the support which is necessary to create an atmosphere.

This gives us the energy to pick up this momentum which we all love to have. “This is our aim, that from the first second we go for it. That we really try everything, invest everything, show how hungry and greedy we are to get the second home win in a row after the QPR win.

Then we go from there. “So for us it’s so, so important. I think everyone can smell this, how important this is now for us, this home game.

“This is why I’m asking everyone in the stadium to play their part. Because we all now and smell how important this game, this period is to push on, to move forward. The next one is the most important thing, and this is for us Preston on Saturday.”

[embedded content] Adaptation on the pitch will also be important according to Wagner, who believes his side will face a completely different challenge to those they have since their upturn in form began. “In general we will face a different style to what we faced in the last three or four games,” he continued. “They are a quite direct team, where we have to be prepared for a lot of aerial duels, really challenge and fight for the second balls.

“But the better we are in ball possession, the more we can put them on the back foot, the better it is. Both of these are very important, to have the right sharpness and aggression to win the balls, and then in possession to make a lot of good decisions. “It’s like always, we have to be really focused on ourselves.

If we can play football to our strengths I think we can cause everyone a problem.” [embedded content] City’s own upward curve has come in the form of nine points from an available 12, including three trips to typically tough away grounds.

Wagner can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but is calling on all involved to make the most of that momentum. “Every win helps, wins like (over Bristol) with late winners even more,” he said. “Even in the period where we had this bad spell, this group was tight together. This is a group of good characters.

“Yes, they didn’t collect the points or perform on the level which we expect. There were some reasons for it. Now, with three wins in four games and the performances as well, I think the group recovered well and made some good steps.

“But now it’s all about staying hungry, greedy, focused to continue this run. This is the momentum which we now would like to create, and it’s us who has to do it. “But, from my point of view, I have a great group of characters together.

Win, lose or draw this will not change.

Obviously it’s more enjoyable if you win football matches, and now it’s up to us to really crack on and create the atmosphere we need to pick up this momentum.

“When I say us, it means the players, staff, coaches and supporters.”