Smith striving to cash in at West Ham's expense

Smith mapped out everything from the financial consideration on Friday to avoiding the ignominy of ending a second consecutive top flight season plumb last, when pressed for the Canaries’ collective mindset.

West Ham's Sunday lunchtime visit to Carrow Road marks the final throes of another Premier League failure.

“We don't want to finish bottom, and there's still a possibility of finishing above Watford. That can bring some positivity, but also an awful lot of money, which is important to the football club,” he said. “Those things are important to us.

"We are also trying to get some momentum going into the following season, but I will pick players we feel give us the best chance to win a game. We've got two months to build into the start of next season, at the end of July. We've got plenty of time to look at players.

"I can learn an awful lot still, and there's principles of play that we're putting into them from myself, Shakey (Craig Shakespeare) and Liam (Bramley).

"Now there’s not an awful lot of pressure on the players they can go and play with freedom - and we want to see that in these games.

If ever five minutes summed up our season, it was the last five minutes of the first half (at Villa). If Brandon Williams doesn't slip over, then Aston Villa probably get booed off at half-time. He slips, they score, we don't get a penalty at the other end, and from what I can make out from the officials now it's okay to kick somebody in the face. As long as you're attempting to kick the ball.”

David Moyes has transformed West Ham (Image: Focus Images Limited)

Smith counts David Moyes as a personal friend, but hopes to cash in on West Ham’s own disappointment following a Europa League semi-final exit.

“I felt for them. I would have loved to have seen them get to the final. David's a good friend of mine, and he's done unbelievably at West Ham,” he said. “We'll see on Sunday whether it's a good time to play them or not, or whether they're smarting.

"When I was at Aston Villa two years ago we were fighting with them to avoid relegation, and to see them now become a top eight team in the Premier League is down to the work of David.

“You look at the squad that they've got and they are athletes. They're good at set pieces, both defensively and attacking, and they've got some fantastic players.

"You only have to look at Declan Rice to see one of the outstanding players in the Premier League.

Mathias Normann is one of the three loan players who are still important to Dean Smith after relegation was confirmed (Image: Focus Images Limited)

"It is always going to be a challenge to compete against the likes of West Ham, but I actually thought we played quite well at their place, and maybe the difference was in both boxes.

"We've got to make sure we keep the ball and make them work very hard. We must be really good defensively, at set pieces, because they're strong, one of the strongest in the league. And we've got to make the most of our chances.”