The Canaries were outclassed by high-flying Tottenham at Carrow Road on Tuesday, but remain in mid-table with a healthy seven-point cushion over the bottom three. Fulham head to Norfolk on Saturday afternoon and their poor away form will give Norwich hope of picking up three more points, but Lambert is taking nothing for granted. "We have done really fine to be where we are and are playing well enough to win games, but we have to curtail the expectancy level a bit, because it is severe here," the former Celtic midfielder said. "What the lads have done has been incredible; everybody predicted us to be in the bottom three at this time. "But when you surpass people's expectation levels, they think you are just going to turn up and win. It never works that way. "We are playing catch-up with nearly every team in the league because we are new to it. We are the underdog to play every team we come up against, but we are making a fist of it. "Fulham have got terrific players and have been an established Premier League side for a number of years now. "They got a great result at Chelsea (a 1-1 draw) which shows what a good side they are, so it is going to be a really tough game for us." Like many promoted sides before them, Norwich have performed admirably during the first half of the season. However, the likes of Blackpool and Burnley struggled to sustain that form over the course of the campaign and eventually ended up getting relegated. Lambert added: "I keep hearing about being compared to Blackpool, and they went down, but I just get on with it. "The lads have done brilliant for us, but they know and I know that we are only halfway through. "What it (the good start) has done is give us a fighting chance to try to stay in. Is a fighting chance going to be good enough? We will have to wait and see, but we will give it everything we have got." Lambert has given the Norwich board his wishlist for the January transfer window, which is said to included Nottingham Forest's £2.5million-rated full-back Chris Gunter. However, the Scot accepts landing the right man at the right price will not be easy. "I cannot do much more than give the board a list of names we would like to try for," he said. "We have to get players in who will hit the ground running and also who are good people as well. "However, we cannot go out and spend millions of pounds, that is for sure, and I will have to work with that." If Norwich are to steer clear of the relegation dogfight, they will have to tighten up at the back, having failed to record a clean sheet so far this season. However, goalkeeper John Ruddy is not overly concerned. "If we were not scoring and creating chances or not playing well, than it would be a problem," Ruddy said. "We just have not had the luck in some games - in the first five we gave five penalties away. "As long as we are picking points up, then I don't think it matters how many you score or concede. If we are going to stay in the league without keeping a clean sheet, then so be it."
