Barnett played fives times for West Brom last season

Leon Barnett insists he and defensive partner Elliott Ward must share their recent plaudits with the rest of the Norwich City back four.

Saturday's 1-0 defeat of Middlesbrough was the Canaries' third clean sheet in their last four league games and lifted them to fourth in the Championship.

Barnett, 24, told BBC Radio Norfolk: "Overall I think we've defended well as a team, not just me and Wardy.

"Everybody's on their toes. I'm happy to play with them."

City have had to cope with changes across their back line with Ward, 25, serving a one-match ban against Crystal Palace last week, and left-back Adam Drury sidelined by a calf strain.

Stephen Smith has started the last two games in place of Drury, while Russell Martin has played in every league game at right-back this season.

That's four clean sheets for us which is good but whoever, whatever the combination is, we just like to keep a clean sheet Norwich City's Leon Barnett

"Russell's doing a consistent job on the right-hand side," Barnett added.

"Smith's come in and done well and I don't think Adam's going to get his place back so easily."

Barnett has featured alongside Ward eight times since arriving on-loan at Carrow Road from Premier League side West Brom.

The pair played together at Coventry for seven months and much has been made about their centre-half pairing, which has kept Dane Jens Berthel Askou on the periphery.

"That's four clean sheets for us which is good but whoever we play with, me and Jens or Wardy and Jens, whatever the combination is, we just like to keep a clean sheet," Barnett said.

City have the opportunity to close the gap on second-placed Cardiff to three points when the two sides clash in Wales on Saturday.

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