Martin keen to prove Norwich doubters wrong

The Canaries defender has insisted Saturday's win over Arsenal at Carrow Road can be the catalyst to his side maintaining their Premier League status for another year

Norwich City defender Russell Martin has underlined his eagerness to prove wrong the doubters who have tipped the Canaries for relegation.

Chris Hughton's side clinched their first victory of the Premier League season on Saturday, beating Arsenal 1-0 at Carrow Road to end a run of seven games without a win.

And, despite Norwich having suffered some heavy defeats this term, Martin is keen to help the East Anglian club stay in the top flight - where he feels they belong.
“That does annoy me, that old second season thing and all that,” he told the Eastern Daily Press.

“I think the group of lads you have here and the character, they have worked too hard to get here, no one wants to give it up that easily. It’s almost, ‘Well, they’ve had one good season, that will do'.

“But that’s not the case. This club deserves to be in the Premier League for many years to come and we work extremely hard every day to try to achieve that and I hope come the end of the season we’ll look back on another successful season.

“We knew this run of games was always going to be tough. We looked at the start of the season at the fixtures and it was tougher than last year’s start, that’s for sure.

“We could feel our way in a little bit last year but it’s not the case now. We’ve lost the element of surprise and I think teams treat us with a bit more respect than last year. I think a few teams took us lightly and we punished them for it.”

The 28-year-old also insisted that Norwich will improve after their summer signings have been given sufficient time to bed in at the club.

“We have a lot of new players and new management and it’s up to the lads who were here, not to try reinvent themselves, but it’s different and you have to adapt to that as quickly as possible,” he added.

“It was always going to take time working with a new manager and a new set of players, but we’re getting there slowly. Now it’s up to us. Nothing needs to change, really, the boys have proved they’re good enough to play in it week in, week out. It’s just the little things that are costing us.

“It was the same last season. We were on the end of a few bad results. It’s just because they’ve come in succession, it looks worse than it probably is.

“We said this at the start. Realistically there are going to be eight teams that fight it out and it’s almost can you win that mini-league, because if you do then you’ll be alright,” he said.

“I’d take this position we are in now come the end of the season. The Liverpool’s and Stoke’s may pull out of it, but the rest will be battling against themselves and those are the games that will decide your season.”