No excuses and no feeling sorry for ourselves is Dean Smith’s mantra to his Norwich City players ahead of facing World and European champions Chelsea.

The Blues head to Carrow Road on Thursday in a hastily re-arranged Premier League game that has left Smith baffled.

City then face another relegation duel at Leeds on Sunday, after coming up well short at home to Brentford.

Smith pulled no punches when he spoke to his squad behind closed doors, but accepts Norwich fans need a morale-lifting boost against Chelsea.

“I can understand the disappointment of our supporters when they are watching us go 3-0 down at home to Brentford, but we need them more than ever,” he said. “I could also see the players getting frustrated and disheartened when they went 3-0 down. I’ve always said they are an honest bunch and they keep going.

"I had to look at myself, my decision making, whether I got it right in terms of selections and in terms of how we tried to play. We have to do better and I believe we can do better.

"You have to learn from those mistakes. It comes no bigger than Chelsea. We have to pick ourselves up."

Smith is in no doubt the Blues' squad depth gives them an edge, but it is the knock on effect for what feels another momentum-shifting game at Leeds that is of greater concern.

“Due to the way the Premier League have scheduled this Chelsea game we will now get hardly any coaching time to go into Leeds,” he said. “Who are only six points ahead of us after last weekend. But we have to deal with the hand we have been dealt. I just hope we can turn around a few results, and maybe have a bit of luck along the way.

“The top teams have to deal with this all the time with their European adventures but they have bigger squads, deeper squads. That comes with the financial element of being at the top of this league and competing in Europe.

"If it was Wednesday I could understand. But Thursday gives us no chance to prepare and recover for Leeds. The Premier League have their reasons, but the explanation doesn’t quite fit for me.”

Smith will deliver the latest fitness update from the City camp first thing on Wednesday morning, with Lukas Rupp poised to come into contention after missing out against Brentford with more hamstring issues.

“He asked to come off just before he scored in the FA Cup at Liverpool,” said Smith. “After he scored I thought he might want to stay on but he was clearly in too much pain and he just hadn’t recovered in time from that game but we expect to have him available for Chelsea.”

Sam Byram looks set to retain his place after getting the nod ahead of Max Aarons.

"That was a little bit of selection but both Max and Brandon (Williams) had knocks they were dealing with during the week. So I didn’t want to risk starting both players," said the City boss. "Dimi (Giannoulis) had played up at Liverpool but was tired so I thought Brandon was the one to come in. I thought Sam’s performance was really good."