Portuguese striker made return from injury against Barnsley

NELSON Oliveira says he is fit and raring to contribute for the Canaries in the final weeks of the campaign.

City will return to Sky Bet Championship action next weekend with a trip to Aston Villa, kicking off a busy April that includes seven further matches.

Oliveira's appearance off the bench in the second half of last Saturday's win over Barnsley at Carrow Road was his first since suffering a foot injury in early February.

He told canaries.co.uk: "I feel good. I'm not at my best yet because I've had four or five weeks training with no real game time, but I feel well.

"It wasn't easy; I got the red card (against Rotherham), and after that I came back strong but then I got the injury.

"It was frustrating, it was tough, but that is football and it's in the past now. I need to start getting more game time and then it will be better.



"These two weeks will give me more fitness, more time to get to 100% before the Aston Villa game. I can then build and improve from there."

Results went City's way in the last round of fixtures before the international break as they reduced the points gap to the play-off places to five.

Their next seven matches are all against sides in the top half of the division, and Oliveira says the players will 'have something to prove' over the coming month.

"Now we to rest a bit and focus on the last month and a bit of the season because we have big games coming up," he added.

"We have something to prove and something to achieve in that period.

"If we want to get into the play-offs, we have to win these games. If we don't win against the top six, we don't deserve to go to the play-offs.

"We are focused to perform well and win those games, and we are confident as well. We think we can achieve it but we know it's not going to be easy."