Philippe Clement is expecting another difficult test for Norwich City as they travel to face Middlesbrough on Saturday, but insists his side will approach the game with the same ambition they have shown throughout the opening weeks of the season.
The Canaries head to the Riverside Stadium (3pm KO) following Tuesday's battling 2-1 victory over Birmingham City at Carrow Road.
Speaking to the media ahead of the trip to Teesside, Clement reflected on the progress his side showed against Birmingham and previewed what he expects to be an entertaining contest against one of the Sky Bet Championship's promotion contenders.
While pleased with Norwich's attacking quality in midweek, Clement was particularly encouraged by the way his team stood up to Birmingham's physical threat.
"The team has already shown good things on the ball and scored good goals," he said.
"We have technical players and players who can make the difference individually, but we need to do it collectively and first win the fight.
"We knew Birmingham were the team with the most heading duels in the league and the team that had won the most duels in the league, but we won 63 per cent of the heading duels in this game.
"It's a big step up for our team to face that and deal with it well, while also doing good things with the ball.
"Of course, we can still improve a lot of things. It wasn't the perfect product, but it's a step.
"You need to have different layers in your team to play different kinds of games and face everything you can come up against in football."
Clement confirmed there were no fresh injury concerns following Tuesday's win, with players who were not involved set to return to contention for the weekend.
"Everything was fine after the game," he said.
"The guys who did well are naturally in our thoughts for this game again. Is it a guarantee to start? That's not the case, but of course they're in the thoughts for that.
"That's the next challenge and a good challenge."
The City head coach also provided a positive update on defender Lucien Mahovo, who continues to make progress in his recovery.
"Week by week he's doing more things," Clement explained.
"If everything goes well and he keeps making the right steps, then I expect him during the international window to come back into the group training sessions."
Clement reserved high praise for Middlesbrough head coach Kim Hellberg and believes Saturday's opponents are among the strongest sides in the division.
"I respect Kim Hellberg highly," he said.
"The way he plays football is the way I like to see football. There is a clear structure but also a lot of variation within that structure.
"They have a lot of quality. They invested over £40 million in this transfer window and brought in a striker for around £20 million, so of course they're one of the favourites to achieve promotion.
"They have a really good squad and a really good coach. I think the play-offs are guaranteed for them, that's my feeling."
Clement expects Middlesbrough to impose themselves on proceedings and believes Norwich will need to be at their best both in and out of possession.
"They want to dominate," he said.
"They press a lot, one against one. There are a lot of changing positions in midfield and in defence when they're building up, sometimes with midfielders and sometimes with full-backs.
"To play against that, you need to come out of their pressing. On the ball, you need to be really good. That's a big point.
"And then without the ball, you need to make sure they don't push you back onto your own 18-yard box for the whole game."
The Belgian also looked back on last season's meeting at the Riverside, a game he felt Norwich were unfortunate not to take something from.
"I think we played a good game there last season," he said.
"In the end we lost, but we could have got at least a point from that game.
"It was a really interesting battle between two teams playing positive football and trying to score goals.
"I expect a game like that again. For every neutral supporter watching tomorrow, it's going to be a game between two teams who want to win."
