Norwich relegated: Alexander Tettey rues financial gulf after Premier League relegation confirmed

Norwich captain hopes their young team will be stronger for the experience but believes their collective spirit this season came undone by injuries and absences to leave them no chance of Premier League survival

Alexander Tettey admitted that a club with the financial limitations of Norwich City was always going to struggle to remain in the Premier League after their relegation to the Championship was confirmed on Saturday.

Norwich suffered a convincing 4-0 defeat against West Ham, with Michail Antonio scoring all four goals to condemn Daniel Farke’s side to the drop with three matches left to play.

Last season’s Championship winners find themselves six points adrift of 19th-placed Aston Villa and went into Saturday’s early kick-off 10 points from safety, but with both West Ham and Watford recording victories the 13-point gap proved too much to overcome.

Speaking immediately after the heavy defeat, Norwich captain Tettey accepted that the team were repeatedly punished this season for their poor defending.

"It's very hard for me to talk but that was a tough game for us,” Tettey said. “We came out trying to be positive but again, when we don't do what we have to do on the pitch we get punished and for all four goals you can't defend like that.

"When you do, even teams that are struggling will punish you and that's the Premier League. That's what happened here today, we got punished for every mistake - passing choice we made, not marking on corners. It's tough.”

The 34-year-old rued the fact that Norwich are financially weaker than many of the clubs they were battling against in the top flight, which meant they were always fighting with one hand tied behind their back and dependent on a team spirit that came undone by injury and absences throughout the campaign.

"It's very tough, I've been saying this the whole season,” he added. “We're going to games and trying to be positive and in the end it ends up not being a positive game so it's tough to get yourself going mentally.

"This club has not been a club that buys well established players for £40m-50m, that's never happened before and if you have a group collective that you're trying to create in the Premier League then that's difficult. It can be done but you've got to be consistent.

"We haven't had bodies, people have been injured and it's been tough for the manager but it's a young group and they can take this experience and move forward."