CITY’s form on their travels could be a key part of any success they have this season, says boss Alex Neil.

Sunderland are the hosts for the Canaries’ first away match of the 2015-16 Barclays Premier League season (Saturday, 3pm) and Neil leads his team into the contest having avoided defeat on the road since his appointment as manager in January.

Asked about the secret behind his away day success, Neil explained to Norwich City TV: “It’s about having good players who are set up properly. Going away from home gives you a different dynamic because the pressure is on the home team to come and beat you.

“When teams are at home, they’re probably more offensive in your style and that maybe helps us.

“If you look at the teams who are challenging or the teams at the bottom of the table, everybody talks about how crucial your home form is.

“If we can back that up by going to get points away from home, then it takes a huge amount of pressure off you when you do come back.”

Sunderland were beaten 4-2 by Leicester City on the opening weekend of the campaign, and Neil is sure there will be a desire to respond from Dick Advocaat’s side in front of their home support.

“We’re expecting a bit of a backlash. They didn’t get the result that they wanted and probably not the performance they wanted either,” he added.

“I’d imagine with them being at home, the fans will be up for it and the players likewise. We’ve got our own agenda though, so we need to make sure we go there and do everything that we can to come away with the points.”

Neil says he took ‘more positives then negatives’ from the Canaries’ curtain-raiser against Crystal Palace last Saturday, even though they were eventually beaten 3-1 at Carrow Road.

Against the Black Cats, he wants his players to show a clinical edge, commenting: "We want to play as well as we can for the full 90 minutes. For the vast majority of the Palace game we played well, however you’ve got to turn it into results.

“You’ll always take the result and the performance in isolation. We’re pleased with how we played, there are still things to work on however because obviously the result wasn’t what he’d hoped.

“We need to try and make sure that we fix that for Saturday.”

ALEX NEIL: AWAY FORM COULD BE KEY

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