When your team comes up against an opponent of giant proportions, there are two possible mentalities available to the coach; buckle down and prepare for damage limitation or play your own game and hope to get something for your bravery. In Saturday’s game away at Stamford Bridge, Paul Lambert made it clear, we will pursue the latter.

We may have lost 3-1 to a Chelsea side that really failed to inspire the imagination, but the performance was competitive and deserving of more than the nothing we received.

Steve Morrison came on to decent effect, his final touches were just not there this week. He could have had a couple of goals and a couple of assists. At one point, a premier pass from Holt over the top put Morrison one-on-one with Hilario in the Chelsea goal. Morrison’s touch too many gave John Terry the chance to be the hero when Morrison should have been claiming the plaudits in front of the boisterous travelling City fans behind the goal.

Up until that point, we were worthy of a point and arguably the more likely to take all three points.

When John Ruddy arrived from Everton for an undisclosed fee back in 2010, many Norwich fans (myself included) were still lamenting the failed attempts to retain Newcastle United’s backup keeper, Fraser Forster. The previous season, Forster had fallen one clean sheet short of equaling Norwich’s all time record number of clean sheets in a season and was runner-up for the Fan’s player of the year award. Ruddy seemed frustrated by the shadows he had walked into.

While Ruddy had done a fine job for Norwich last season in the Championship, the promotion saw Norwich reopen the Forster pursuit, leaving Ruddy’s position as City’s number one in question.

This weekend’s 1-1 home draw against Stoke saw Ruddy put in a performance that ranks as high as any of Fraser Forster’s. And he could be on the verge of silencing the ghost of goalkeepers past.

We’ve waited so long. Like waiting for a sunrise. Like expecting a bus. Like the Take That reunion (what? Just me?). The inevitable moment has arrived; today, Norwich City will play in the Premier League.

What felt like an unusually long pre-season is finally over. Have we attained what we wanted and needed to get us ready for the world’s best?

Was the opposition too weak? Did we train too hard? Did Real Zaragoza come to Carrow Road with hopes of crippling half of our squad before the season has even begun? Who knows? But, today at 3pm, pre-season will simply be a distant dot in our rearview mirrors and, should we come away with three points from Wigan, it will be labeled as an excellent pre-season regime.