Having picked up just five (yes, five) points in the year of 2016, it is perhaps hard to believe that any Norwich City players have come out of such a drab run of form with any credit. This being said, there have been some who’s impressive individual performances have continually been let down by the collective - I take a look at the top three:

Jonny Howson

A BBC article yesterday showed that Jonny Howson (50) has made the 4th most tackles by an English Premier League midfielder, just 5 behind Danny Drinkwater in first. When you consider the fact that Drinkwater has been one of the stars of the season and is being heavily touted for a place in England’s Euro 2016 squad, it is quite an achievement for Howson who, yet again, has been one of Norwich’s best players. Recent weeks have seen Howson revert to his more natural centre-midfield position and it is no surprise that this has resulted in an upturn in his form. While the likes of Alex Tettey and Gary O’Neil offer energy in abundance, Howson is one of our few midfielders who boasts genuine quality on the ball. Whether it be within his finishing (his wonder-strike at Stoke in January is worthy of earning him a place on this list alone), or within his incredible ability to drive the team forward with the ball at his feet, Howson oozes class. Arguably the best thing about the ex-Leeds man is that he is so criminally under-rated - if we go down then I would be pretty confident that we would be able to retain his services for another season, even though he is far too good for the Championship. Despite four years as a Premier League player, he continues to remain our little secret, and let’s hope it remains that way for a little while longer!

Timm Klose

Norwich City’s January signing Timm Klose was given a rude awakening to Premier League football when City were comprehensively beaten 3-0 by Spurs on debut. It was an inauspicious start for the Swiss international who had joined from Wolfsburg for a fee of £6.8million just a couple of weeks earlier. Ever since, however, almost game by game, he has exponentially improved - culminating in his display of utter dominance against Manchester City last weekend. Powerful in the air, strong in the tackle, and, despite his gangly 6ft 4 frame, surprisingly good with the ball at his feet - Klose looks to be an inspired signing. Alongside Ryan Bennett, who himself was a viable contender for 2016’s best three, Klose has dramatically solidified our defence - since he found his feet at Premier League level we have conceded just 4 in 4, compared to the 21 in the 7 games previous.

John Ruddy

It is no surprise that our upturn in defensive fortunes has coincided with the long awaited return of John Ruddy in goal. Having been dropped in favour of Declan Rudd throughout December and January, Ruddy was re-called for the 2-2 home draw with West Ham and, ever since, he has looked somewhat near his former best. While he hasn’t necessarily stood out in many fixtures, he has managed to eradicate the mistakes that have been hampering his performances over the past 24 months. This is not to say that he hasn’t made some spectacular saves, however - his stop against Sergio Aguero in the first half last Saturday was truly sensational and was reminiscent of the John Ruddy that Norwich fans had learned to know and love in the first two seasons of his career at the club. If we are to have any chance of survival then an in-form John Ruddy is absolutely essential, and, if the past few weeks are anything to go by, it looks like we may just be in luck.