Norwich City manager Chris Hughton has insisted that his side are better off this season than they were at the same stage of the last campaign, despite sitting in the relegation zone.

The Canaries have lost five of their opening eight matches in the league this season, but are one point better off than they were last season when they went on to finish 11th in the table.

However, Hughton believes that their last two performances - against Chelsea and Arsenal - have shown a lot of promise despite ending in 3-1 and 4-1 defeats respectively.

"One of the pluses is that we are in good form at the moment. We have been beaten in the last two games by top teams who will both be pushing for the league title, but we have played well in spells. We felt we should have got something more from particularly the Chelsea match, so if you keep that belief and keep playing in that vein results will turn," Hughton told PA.

"If I look at our position this time last season, we are a point better off. We then went on a good run that carried us up the table and that is the game. When you are playing with confidence you have to try and get results. You see Fulham winning a couple of days ago and it lifts them a few places up the table. We have got a really good group.

"We haven't felt the need to change anything in respect of what we are doing in training. They have an excellent work ethic and they are focused on turning things around. We are confident about what we do and we will go into Saturday's game looking to win."

Norwich face Cardiff City in the Premier League tomorrow in a match that sees 18th place take on 17th place.