Keeping in touch with clubs around you, Smith reckons, is more important in the fight against demotion than becoming fixated on position in the table.

“We don’t want a team getting out of our sights. We want to make sure that they’re losing points in and around us as well.”
Smith’s hopes of overcoming Watford, however, were dealt a blow by another injury to his goalkeeper Tim Krul, who damaged the ACL joints in his shoulder in the victory over Everton.

He may be out for some time. But whoever plays in goal, Smith does have one significant advantage: an inside line into the thinking of his opposite number.

His assistant, Craig Shakespeare, stood alongside Claudio Ranieri when Leicester City won the title six seasons ago.
“Yeah, obviously, Craig worked very closely, very successfully with him,” he says of Ranieri. “So, you know he knows him very well. Obviously, he’s working with a different set of players now.

“But there will be certain things that ‘Shaky’ can give us pointers on.”

And if any of those pointers lead to three points, it will be a historic moment for Norwich and their manager.