Crystal Palace striker Jordan Ayew says the Canaries will be hard to beat when the sides clash at Selhurst Park on Tuesday night.

City head to south London looking to make amends for their 5-0 Boxing Day mauling at home to Arsenal.

It was the worst result of Dean Smith's short managerial career at Carrow Road, but Ayew says Palace are well aware of the banana skin.

“He has come in and obviously there is a reaction from the players,” Ayew said. “He is a good manager as well. In the Premier League, there are no easy games. Every game has a story and we will play that match and get the three points.

“It will not be easy but we will do our best to get the three points. No game is easy in the Premier League. They have had that reaction, they are playing well – I have watched them a couple of times and they are hard to beat.

“They have been unlucky a lot of the time. It’s part of football, being down on your luck – at the moment it’s not with them, but we know football can turn around quick.

“We need to be focused and make sure we get the three points."

Ayew scored his first goal of the season in a 2-2 home draw with Southampton a fortnight ago - a reward for continued effort and hard work under Patrick Vieira, who will miss the Norwich game after returning a positive Covid test.

“I knew that it would come at some point,” he told Palace's official web site. “I just needed to keep doing what I was doing. The manager was encouraging me to keep doing what I was doing.

“I knew it would come sooner rather than later. It came, but it’s just one goal. I know I need to be more efficient, I need to be ruthless in the last 30 metres. There’s a lot of things that I can be more ruthless at.

“I’m working on it, and hopefully this will give me a lot more confidence in the future.”

Despite a goal eluding him, Ayew’s work rate never dropped at training or on the weekend, a principle he holds as high as any other.

“I’ve been in the game for quite a long time now,” he said. “There are some periods in your life where things don’t go your way, and some periods where they go your way. I’ve had that period for a couple of months.

“But you keep working hard. I wake up every morning proud of what I’ve achieved in football. I wake up every morning knowing that when I come to train, I will give 100pc and when I play for Crystal Palace I will give 100pc.

“When I go home I will have no regrets because I know I have given 100pc. That is what is important for me.”

Ayew says the players are thoroughly enjoying working under Veira and his staff.

“It’s positive, very positive,” he said. “At the start of the season people found out about the new manager coming in and what it was going to be like. We adapted well to the new manager and the manager adapted himself to us as well.

“It’s been a great start and everything is going well. It’s a positive thing for me, especially as someone who watched [Vieira] growing up. Today being my manager, I never expected it. He’s a winner and we’re all happy because we want to learn from him.

“We believe in his style of play. It's attractive football and for every player, you want to play this type of football.

“He demands a lot from me to work hard for the team, and of course to score. The most important thing for him is for me to work hard for the team and to be energetic on the pitch.

“He has changed a lot, not only for me but the whole club. That philosophy, the different mindset. Everyone in the club is happy to have him and everyone is pleased to be working under him.”