Team news

Britton taking nothing for granted Swansea may head into the Barclays Premier League meeting with Norwich sitting in the top half of the table but midfielder Leon Britton has warned his team-mates they cannot afford to let their focus slip between now and the end of the season.

The Swans and the Canaries have confounded pre-season expectations that they would make a swift return to the Championship and both are currently on track for comfortable mid-table finishes as they enter this weekend 10th and ninth in the standings respectively.

Last weekend's 2-1 win at West Brom moved Brendan Rodgers' side 10 points clear of the drop zone and victory over Paul Lambert's visitors would further extend that margin, but Britton is adamant that the Welsh club cannot afford to take their foot of the gas until survival is mathematically assured.

The 29-year-old said: "Our main aim is to survive in the league. That was always the main priority. We are 10th but we need to take one games at a time. We can't afford to get too far ahead of ourselves.

"There was no points target at the start of the season and even now, the gaffer doesn't say anything.

"He just asks us to keep our standards up in training and to play as we did at West Brom last weekend.

"I don't think we can look any further than our performances, because if we perform to our level, we would hope to win a few of the remaining 14 games." Britton admits he has been delighted to see Swansea and Norwich do so well this term, proving the strength of the Championship by sticking with the majority of the squads that secured promotion.

"All credit to both sides," he said. "We are in February and the game is a mid-table match. I don't think too may would have predicted that at the beginning of the season.

"Both clubs deserve credit. They are hungry and though they have added some players, there have not been wholesale changes." The meeting between the two sides at Carrow Road earlier this season was one of the few major disappointments Swansea have suffered, as a below-par display resulted in a 3-1 reverse.

But an excellent recent run of results, which included wins over Arsenal and West Brom and draws with Tottenham and Chelsea, has moved them up the table and helped Rodgers, who has agreed a new three-and-a-half year contract, win the January manager of the month award.

Rodgers has a near full-strength squad to pick from with new signing Curtis Obeng unlikely to be rushed into the squad following his recent arrival from Wrexham.

Elliott Ward is ready to end a six-month nightmare and ease a Norwich defensive crisis.

The central defender has missed out on Norwich's impressive run so far in the Premier League after damaging a knee on a pre-season tour in Germany.

But he could be in line to join the adventure at Swansea in the clash of the two promoted clubs who have established themselves in mid-table and won such plaudits this season.

Lambert lost both first-choice centre backs, Daniel Ayala and Zak Whitbread, to hamstring injuries in last week's win against Bolton.

Ayala will be out for around a month and Whitbread is doubtful for the match.

If Lambert has to turn to 27-year-old Ward, who has played just an hour in the reserves so far this season, he would have no fears after nursing him through his rehabilitation.

Lambert said: "Wardy's been great. He's had his ups and downs like everybody else when you have a long-term injury. "You get the rehab to a certain point then you hit the brick wall and then you go over the wall and kick on again.

"He's more than happy now to get going. I've had chats with him to keep his spirits up. He's had his bad days but you pick them up and let them go again. He's all right. He's ready if I ask him to play.

"It has been prolonged and we couldn't get to the bottom of the injury. The knee kept flaring up every time he trained. Thankfully that seems to have been dismissed now so he's ready to go.

"One thing about Wardy he won't let us down. I wouldn't have any fears about putting him in." Lambert's side lie in ninth, two points and a place ahead of Swansea with both clubs closing in on survival.

Lambert said: "We have to try and stay in the league. The lads have been brilliant. Swansea had a head start on us because (two years ago) they were already in the championship. We were in League One, got promotion and then had to go again.

Swansea vs Norwich

Last modified 17:32 11/02/12

Holt at the double in Canaries comeback Captain Grant Holt grabbed a second-half double as Norwich came from behind to claim a thrilling 3-2 victory at the Liberty Stadium and climb to eighth in the Barclays Premier League table.

The Canaries had enjoyed the better of the opening half but trailed at the interval after Danny Graham had coolly slotted the opener from Nathan Dyer's pass in the 23rd minute.

But Norwich were ahead within six minutes of the restart as Holt's header deflected in off Ashley Williams and Anthony Pilkington's strike ricocheted in off Neil Taylor, with the striker slotting the third from a tight angle just after the hour mark.

Holt blotted his copybook by pulling back Williams to give away a late penalty, which Graham converted, but Norwich held on to become just the second side, after Manchester United, to beat Swansea on their own turf this season.

Gylfi Sigurdsson had the chance to give Swansea an early lead after confusion between Kyle Naughton and Canaries keeper John Ruddy, but Russell Martin got there in the nick of time to block the shot.

Norwich settled the better of the two sides, pressing high up the pitch and enjoying some joy with Simeon Jackson running at Angel Rangel down the Swansea right.

But it was Swansea who took the lead against the run of play in the 23rd minute.

Sigurdsson linked well with Dyer and the winger played in Graham for the striker to coolly net his 11th goal of the season.

Holt was heavily involved as Norwich sought a rapid response. The striker, having headed over the bar moments earlier, accused Williams of attempting to elbow him in an aerial challenge before Holt found himself facing the same accusation from Rangel as tempers flared.

Norwich's best chance of the half fell to Andrew Surman, but the midfielder's diving header from Pilkington's brilliant cross was straight at Michel Vorm.

Swansea should have doubled their lead with half-time looming after Dyer and Scott Sinclair had teed Graham up for a tap-in, only for Elliott Ward to brilliantly deny the striker.

Having been unfortunate to trail at the interval Norwich turned the game on its head as they grabbed two goals within six minutes of the restart.

Firstly, Holt headed home via a deflection off Williams after Surman had done well to keep Martin's skied attempt at a volley in play on the byline.

And another deflection helped the visitors claim their second as the excellent Elliott Bennett teed up Pilkington and his shot struck Neil Taylor, who had put through his own net in Swansea's last home game against Chelsea, and deceived Vorm to put the Canaries in front.

At the other end Steven Caulker struck the post from a Sigurdsson corner in between the two goals, while Sinclair was guilty of a poor headed miss from a Dyer centre.

But Swansea were being overrun and when they ceded possession in midfield, Bennett made the most of a three-on-two situation and fed Holt for the striker to beat Vorm from a tight angle.

Naughton survived penalty appeals for handball after blocking a Dyer shot and a cross from substitute Wayne Routledge and then came with inches of making it 4-1 as his rising angled drive was tipped onto the bar by a full-stretch Vorm.

Swansea's desperation to find a route back into the game was leaving them short at the back and they were almost punished when Jackson dispossessed Leon Britton to play Holt in. The striker unselfishly set up substitute Wes Hoolahan, but Vorm made a spectacular save to tip his effort over the bar.

Having done so much to put his side in control Holt then needlessly gave away a penalty for pulling back Williams, with Graham scoring from the spot to set up a tense final few minutes.