AHEAD of Saturday’s Barclays Premier League clash with West Ham United at Carrow Road, City Manager Chris Hughton has welcomed the injury-free return of several key players from international duty.

John Ruddy, Steve Morison, Robert Snodgrass, Simeon Jackson, and Alexander Tettey all travelled with England, Wales, Scotland, Canada, and Norway respectively; however all returned to training on Thursday unscathed and will be available for the visit of West Ham.

The high-flying Hammers have enjoyed a bright start to life back in the top-flight, winning two of their opening three games, however Hughton is determined to turn a recent run of impressive performances into his first three points as City boss.

He told Canaries Player: “Everybody is back fit and well.

“We’ve had Simeon Jackson who has had a long way to travel, with two games for Canada, but he is back now, and in good shape, as are the others.

“Some participated in games, and some didn’t, but we’re no different from other clubs in that we’re at a level where we have more international players than we did a few years ago.

“That’s a plus for us because I like to think that it means this Club has achieved something over the last few years. We’re grateful that they’re back fit and well and we’re looking forward to the weekend.

“Injury-wise, Elliott Bennett is doing some good running at the moment, and he won’t be too far away, and Russ Martin came through training okay.

“Steven Whittaker is taking the time we first thought it would take him to come back. He got injured in pre-season, and although we hoped he would be back by now, it’s taking its course”

Hughton is under no illusions as to how tough the game will be against Sam Allardyce’s West Ham, who look set to be without summer loan signing and £35M striker Andy Carroll for the tie.

He added: “West Ham have a very strong squad. Carlton Cole is the player that played the three games before Andy Carroll arrived, and did an extremely good job.

“He’s as difficult an opponent as Andy Carroll would be, and it will be a strong opposition, who have had a very good start. We watched their defeat at Swansea, and although they lost the game it was a good performance and perhaps individual errors
cost them the game.

“We have a tough game on Saturday, but we are at home and we’ll always endeavour to get that win and we’ll certainly be working hard to do that.

“Anything is possible, irrespective of whatever team we go in against, and the approach to the game has to be the same, striving to get that win. This is particularly important for home games.

“We will have to be at our best and we’ll need to show some of the form we have shown in our last two games to get a result. Three points are always massive in this division, whichever way they come.”

To watch Chris Hughton's press conference on Canaries Player,click here

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