'Not as strong as Manchester United' - Norwich City midfielder fires warning to Newcastle United

Kieran Dowell has warned Newcastle United the Canaries display against Manchester United has given them confidence ahead of the Magpies trip to Carrow Road. Norwich City remain bottom of the Premier League and are eight points behind 17th placed Everton who also boast a game in hand.

Dean Smith's side put in a spirited display at Old Trafford against the Red Devils and were unfortunate not to come away with any points. Both Norwich and Newcastle have been on vastly different paths since the arrival of their two new managers.

Eddie Howe's side all but secured their Premier League status with the win over Crystal Palace in midweek, and although Smith started brightly at Carrow Road, he's not been able to pull them out of the mire. Nonetheless, spirits remain high in the camp and Dowell claims the Magpies are not 'as strong as Manchester United.'

It's quite the statement from the Canaries midfielder, given only Liverpool have picked up more points than Newcastle since the turn of the year. "I think we showed a lot of spirit and that should give us confidence going into Newcastle, who aren't as strong as Manchester United," Dowell told the club's website.

"I thought we showed loads of spirit from going 2-0 down to get back into the game at 2-2 and then [Cristiano] Ronaldo has put one in the top corner from a free-kick. It is pretty impressive to come to Old Trafford and to score two goals and it is harder to score three and four to win the game, so it is just one of them.

“I thought the tactics were good again. We felt that if we could get past their midfield line then we could get at their back four and it happened quite a few times. We probably didn’t capitalise on that enough, but it worked well at times. That