Club Brugge may be battling through a difficult pre-season, but they won't make it easy for Norwich City this evening.

City face the Belgian champions in Roeselare as they ramp up their preparations for the 2024-25 campaign, hoping to build on an impressive 3-0 win over Northampton on Saturday.

But Brugge, boosted by the signing of former Norwich winger Christos Tzolis, are busy sharpening up to defend their title, and they'll be bang up for the friendly at 5:30pm (UK).

Nicky Hayen's side started their summer with a 1-1 draw against PSV Eindhoven, and the 43-year-old is expecting to see improvement from that game.

 “Everyone has to stay sharp," he said. "Sometimes you have to challenge and trigger the players because it is going too easy. Because we gave away too many matches last season? No, not especially. I want to avoid nonchalance and make sure that everyone keeps going.

"Against PSV there was clearly a lack of freshness. That practice match was very educational. Those images will be useful to show the players certain things: how we can press even better, where the spaces were.

"You could clearly see that the opponent had a hard time when we executed our plan perfectly. Of course, that didn't work for a full match: the tough training week had something to do with that. Now we're going to focus on the tactical side for the next two weeks."

Injuries have been a common theme for the Blauw-Zwart, with defensive reshuffling needed before the Belgian Super Cup on Saturday. Much like opposite number Johannes Hoff Thorup, Hayen says he's still working on his squad.

"We want to be there, we're going to do everything we can,” he continued, speaking to Nieuwsblad. "But we're still missing a few guys, and that will probably remain the case for a while.

"We knew before the season that this situation would arise. So now we are mainly looking for solutions. It is about making choices. At the beginning of the season it is always a bit of a search, for every team."