Teemu Pukki says Norwich City must take the positives from the team’s second half showing against Chelsea ahead of Sunday’s trip to Leeds United.
Norwich fell two goals behind earlier on to the European Champions at Carrow Road, but the team put in an improved second-half performance – which saw Teemu pull a goal back from the penalty spot – before going down to a 3-1 loss.
Leeds, who sit just four places and five points above Norwich in the table, were also beaten 3-0 at home to Aston Villa, so it sets up an intriguing battle at Elland Road on Sunday and one Teemu says they must go into in confident mood.
"It is a big game on Sunday, so we need to take the self confidence from the second half (against Chelsea) into that game,” he said. “I think we showed that we can play on this level and we have what it takes. We just need to do that for the 90 minutes on Sunday.”
Teemu, who now has two goals in two games, added that it is good for him to go into the match on goalscoring form as well.
“It was quite long that I didn’t score and now I have scored a couple of goals in two games,” he said. “That is a good thing and going forward it gives me confidence and it is easier to go to the Leeds game after a couple of goals. I hope I can help the team again with a goal on Sunday.”
Norwich must tighten up defensively though after conceding twice early on.
“It is hard if you concede two goals in the opening 15 minutes,” added Teemu. “I think second half we gave ourselves a chance to come back into the game and we had some chances, but we could not get the two-two goal and they (Chelsea) are a quality team so they got the last goal.”