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Lafferty vows to prove his worth

London - Talismanic Northern Ireland forward Kyle Lafferty has called on Norwich City manager Alex Neil to keep him at Carrow Road and give him the chance to reignite his floundering Premier League career.

The striker has been instrumental in Northern Ireland's charge to the top of Group F, where they sit just two points away from automatic qualification for Euro 2016, with games against Greece and Finland to come.

Lafferty scored a crucial equaliser against Hungary on Monday, taking him to seven goals in eight games for the Northern Irish and behind only Poland's Robert Lewandowski and Germany's Thomas Muller in the Euro 2016 qualification scoring charts.

But the 27-year-old's form for Norwich is a different story.

He has scored just one goal in 18 appearances for the Canaries since joining them in 2014 and has not played this season due to injury.

Lafferty was loaned out to Turkish side Caykur Rizespor within a month of Neil arriving as manager last season, but is keen to prove that he is worth keeping for the current campaign.

"Playing 75 minutes against the Faroe Islands and 95 minutes against Hungary was important for me, and the manager will see I'm probably fit enough to play 30, 40 minutes," he told reporters.

"I will go back and work my socks off in training and keep on knocking on the manager's door. If he sits me down and says I'm not in his plans, then it's time for me to make a decision whether I go out on loan or stay and work even harder.

"Every player in this world wants to play in the Premier League, you just have to look at the players playing in it. I want to play against those players. I'm not going to throw my towel in now, take the easy option and go out on loan to a Championship team, play the long-ball game," he added.

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