Teemu Pukki is relishing the scrap to lead Norwich City’s frontline.
The Finnish international fired the Canaries to the Championship title two seasons ago but with the emergence of Adam Idah and the arrival of Jordan Hugill knows he cannot let his standards drop.
Pukki unselfishly served up Idah’s match-winner at Huddersfield and is enjoying the friendly competition.
“There is of course competition because everyone wants to play and everyone wants to score goals,” he said. “But I think all of us are team players so whenever the team is winning we are happy, even if the other guy scores. It doesn’t matter - we are a really good three.
“I think all of our strikers - Jordan as well as Adam - we’re all a bit different and everyone brings something else to the team, so it’s a good combination of strikers we have here.
“For me, to have other strikers, it can be much easier to play when you have someone to be close around. It allows the other guy to stay in the position to score more often.
“He’s (Hugill) been good in training and is a good guy as well. We sit next to each other in the locker room. I like him and I think we’ll all get a lot of minutes this year, so we need everyone to be ready whenever we get the chance to play.”
Pukki had no hesitation in serving up a simple tap in for Idah’s maiden league goal of his career to sink the Terriers.
“I like Adam a lot and he’s a good player,” he said, speaking to the club’s official site. “I enjoy playing with him and hope he gets many goals this year. I saw he was in a better position than I was, so for me the points are more important than me scoring.
“Of course, I want to score as well, but if I see another guy in a better position I’ll give him the chance to score because the most important thing is to get the three points.
“It was a tough game. We knew the first game back in the Championship would be tough, we just had to fight through it and we got the three points we really wanted. It was a long time since we last won, so it was really important to get those points.”
Preston will provide stiff opponents at Carrow Road but the news 1,000 season ticket holders will be in attendance as part of a Football League pilot has given Daniel Farke’s squad a boost.
“When we found out about the news that there would be fans, we were all pretty happy about it,” said the striker. “I’ve been missing playing in front of the fans a lot. It’s kind of a different game without fans, so it’s much easier to get yourself into the game when there are some supporters.
“I hope they give us a good cheering from the stands and we will do our best on the pitch.
“I remember last time we were in the Championship we lost to them once and won the other game near the end, so it’s going to be tough like pretty much all the games in the Championship. We just need to be ready to play our game and take on the opponents.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here