Lambert keeps Norwich grounded

The Canaries recorded a first top-flight victory of the season at Bolton last weekend which saw them bounce back from a disappointing home loss to West Brom. However, despite the jubilation which greeted a first away Premier League win over a spell of 17 years for the Norfolk club, Lambert - who has overseen successive promotions from npower League One - is determined to keep things in perspective. "You can't forget where you were. If you do that then I think you are making a grave error, like thinking you have arrived and that it will be easy," Lambert said. "It is nothing like that at all. In my own mind I know what has been achieved here." The Norwich manager added: "I will never forget that two years ago we were in League One, and we were there for a reason - it is not a place you want to go back to. "The football club, on and off the pitch, has moved on dramatically, which is great. "The crowd has always been there, 25,000 every week, so that won't change, but the difference for them is that they're probably more vibrant for it, seeing a team that has been winning for the past two years, and they are in a great league." Norwich had produced some positive displays on their return to the Premier League following six seasons in the wilderness, if without the reward of a maximum-points haul. And Lambert accepts there has been something of a sense of relief around the squad since the Bolton game. However, the Norwich manager is under "no illusions" of the challenge which awaits his team at Carrow Road on Monday night against Steve Bruce's established Premier League outfit. "I am pretty sure last week will have heightened that belief, because it takes away everybody saying 'Norwich haven't won'," Lambert said. "The level of performances have been really high, and we have had games where we might have got more points than we have done. "Now we have to try to keep the same level of performance that we have been showing of late. "However, looking at the players Sunderland have brought in during the summer, and the players that were already there, I am under no illusions how hard this is going to be. "They are established, more so than us, however, we are at home and the onus is on us to try and make the running." Lambert made half-a-dozen changes for the win at Bolton, as Wales international Steve Morison replaced captain Grant Holt as the Canaries' lone striker. Elliott Bennett, a summer signing from Brighton, and former Huddersfield midfielder Anthony Pilkington, who scored Norwich's opener at the Reebok Stadium, provide plenty of pace down the flanks. And Lambert believes the formation can continue to pay dividends as the Canaries battle for points. "It is not a defensive system because you have got two wide lads who are really quick and the creative one in behind him," he said. "You don't know what to expect from teams (in this league) and for how hard you work to get a win - that can easily get blown out of the water the next week because you are up against a totally different animal in certain teams and different players. "You don't take anything for granted in this league."