It might look and feel like mission impossible for Norwich City against the reigning Premier League champions Manchester City.

But the Canaries, under Daniel Farke, have been here before in the top flight. Few would have given them any chance of conjuring that era-defining win at Carrow Road in September 2019.

Granted, the degree of difficulty this Saturday appears even more demanding, without the voluminous backing of arguably the best home atmosphere in modern times. With £100m man Jack Grealish poised for his home debut in front of what should be their biggest attendance since prior to the pandemic. As hands go it might be tempting to fold at this stage.

Yet it is worth re-visiting Farke’s public pronouncements prior to that previous win over Pep Guardiola, Kevin de Bruyne and many of the same star-studded cast list.

Listen to the tone of Farke’s urgings to his players prior to that very first meeting.

“My feeling is we have nothing to lose but we can win a lot,” he said. “I will back the boys, I will protect them and I will not be annoyed if it is not the perfect performance. All I ask is they are brave and they have invested everything. I don’t want them to come back into the changing room after the game and have this feeling that they could have given something more.

“This type of game is one of the toughest challenges you can get. Manchester City is one of the best teams in Europe for me at the moment, possibly the world. You need a top class day just to be competitive.

“It is important we are precise in our pressing, because we also need to get a decent amount of possession. We have to be good in that phase and we have to carry a threat in the offence. If we just concentrate on defending we have no chance. We know even better teams, or teams with a better reputation, are not able to do this against Manchester City.”

Viewed through how that epic 3-2 victory would play out barely 24 hours after Farke uttered these words, it is remarkable how much his players bought into those motivational sentiments. Norwich were under the cosh but they also scored from high pressure, high pressing actions that forced the visitors’ backline into errors.

The reverse Premier League fixture on the final day in an empty stadium at the end of an interminable ‘Project Restart’ period, and long after Norwich’s relegation had been confirmed, was a predictably one-sided affair. Few perhaps expect anything different this weekend.

But Farke will have scrutinised Tottenham’s approach in last weekend’s 1-0 league defeat for the champions. Spurs were combative without the ball and full of pace and directness on the counter when they did get it. The winning goal came from a Manchester City corner that was cleared and moved up the park at blurring speed.

Milot Rashica showed enough in an energetic debut against Liverpool to suggest his thrust can unsettle any defence at this level. We have yet to see Christos Tzolis, but he brings the same potent reputation.

The fear is less with the ball, even if City must expect to forage on limited possession, but how robust they can be and how well they can press when the hosts probe. Norwich did much right against Liverpool but in the defining moments they were too open and too naive.

We all know the mitigation from a heavily disrupted pre-season but the Citizens will be just as ruthless as Jurgen Klopp’s men if they detect vulnerability.

To repeat Farke’s previous mantra, give everything and those Norwich players will find he has their back. But the genesis of that September 2019 win was not just a manic desire to cover every blade of grass, and expend every last ounce of energy in a common cause, it was in the smartness and the intelligence of the gameplan and the brilliance of how they executed it.

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Farke does not want pluckiness, he wants cunning and a streetwise edge. Bravery is not simply throwing bodies on the line, it is taking the game to the champions; it is Billy Gilmour demanding the ball in and around world class opponents, it is Rashica, Josh Sargent and maybe even Tzolis putting the Sky Blues on the back foot.

Easier said than done. But it has been done before.

Have a go and come up short and Norwich can harness renewed self belief for the battles to come.

Turn up and roll over and there will be plenty who will use it as further evidence for the prosecution, when it comes to predicting Norwich’s Premier League prospects.