It’s not over until it’s over, and that’s the mentality Jamal Lewis is adopting during Norwich City’s end of season run in.
“For me personally it’s just about applying pressure to the other guys,” he said, speaking to canaries.co.uk ahead of the visit of Southampton on Saturday. “If we can just get that gap to within three points, anything can happen within the last few games.
“If we can just bridge that gap, then we can aim for something special.
“It’s a little bit like the Championship. You get a good week and you can start to climb up. The boys are still optimistic. Obviously, we lost last week but if we can bounce back with a win this week that would be the best reaction.
“It’s football and there are a lot of crazy things that can happen. We’re just working hard and staying optimistic.”
Lewis has thrived upon his return to the starting XI, and it’s been a period of the season that the full-back has enjoyed immensely, despite the nature of certain results.
“I’m really enjoying it,” he said. “It’s the best feeling to be out there on the pitch playing with your teammates and friends in front of the fans. I’m really appreciative of it.”
As for Saints, Ralph Hasenhüttl’s side appear to have just enough points to look comfortable in the Premier League table at the time of writing, having struggled earlier in the season.
“Southampton have got themselves out of a tougher situation they were in earlier in the season,” Lewis said. “They’ve done really well. We still see it as three points at home and we owe it to ourselves and the fans to put in a top performance so we can come out with three points and keep applying that pressure.”
As for the fans, they’ve been pivotal to ensuring that City have lost just once at home in 2020 – to league leaders Liverpool – according to Lewis.
“I’ve played at Carrow Road for two and a half seasons so it’s a great atmosphere all the time,” he added. “We just need the fans to keep getting behind us. I know it’s been a tough year for them as we haven’t won as many home games as we did last year, but they’ve been great, nevertheless. We really appreciate them, and I love playing there.”
Last time at home, it was Lewis’ venomous volley that sealed a 1-0 win against Leicester City, and the left-back admitted he’d watched his Premier League Goal of the Month nomination back once or twice.
“In the first 24 hours after, I watched it quite a bit but not as much now. We just had to focus on the next few games because it was quite a busy week ahead, but it was a good finish and hopefully I can chip in with a few more to help the team.”