ALEX Neil insists nothing will be decided by Wednesday's result at Newcastle United - but that his team can 'send a statement' of intent in the Sky Bet Championship promotion race.

Newcastle started the campaign as title favourites but it's Neil's men who are current pacesetters after notching their fourth league victory on the spin against Burton Albion at the weekend.

Speaking to Norwich City TV on Tuesday, Neil said: "People read into it because we're at the top of the league and everybody expects Newcastle to be top of the league.

"It's one of those games where if you win it, everbody will hype you up, and if you lose it, people will start writing you off.

"I don't think it's either of those two things really, but if we win the match it sends a statement out that we're a real contender in the league. We're going there, we want to win the game and we're confident that we've got enough to do that.

"The fact that we've put five back-to-back wins together speaks volumes of the squad and we're getting real momentum at the moment, so this is a great game for us to go in to at this time."

Neil believes the match will be a tactical battle that his players are equipped to win.

"Going to their home patch and managing to beat them there would be a great result for us," he added.

"Every team is beatable, and looking at our squad we're more than capable of going anywhere in the league and winning. This one is just another game for us.

"Both teams are well set-up when they've not got the ball, and they break really well from their shape. It will be interesting to see which team has the ball, and how much of the ball they want."

ALEX NEIL'S NEWCASTLE PREVIEW

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