Norwich City 4-1 Reading: Kieran Dowell double ensures Canaries win Championship title
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Kieran Dowell's first-half strike was his fourth goal in nine games and his fifth arrived after the break
Championship champions Norwich City are "better prepared" to stay in the Premier League than they were for the one season they managed last time out, according to manager Daniel Farke.
The Canaries thumped Reading to ensure a second title in three seasons, with two goals from Kieran Dowell and late strikes from Xavi Quintilla and Teemu Pukki sealing a superb comeback after Josh Laurent's early header had put the visitors in front.
"I'm not willing to think too much about the Premier League at this moment," said Farke, who took Norwich up in 2018-19 and remained in charge following their relegation last term.
"We will just enjoy ourselves and value what we have done because this belongs to our supporters and the club.
"But we have got the feeling we are better prepared as a club and will give it a real go as the only self-funding club to survive.
"If we are better than two years ago we will see but now we are thinking only of celebrations. I don't want to be too scared of Liverpool and Manchester City and all the other top sides, we just want to enjoy ourselves."
The Canaries were already assured of an immediate return to the top flight, but defeats against Bournemouth and fellow promoted club Watford meant they were not certain of being crowned champions.
Watford's defeat against Brentford ensured the Canaries were champions anyway, but they confirmed a fifth second-tier title in their history with a stylish victory which never looked in doubt despite Farke's side falling behind to Laurent's back-post header from Michael Olise's inviting cross.
Reading, whose bid for a play-off place ended last Sunday, were impressive early on and looked in the mood to make Norwich wait even longer for the title.
But Dowell levelled the score with a calm finish following a series of defensive blunders as the Royals finished well beaten and had keeper Rafael Cabral to thank for limiting the margin of victory.
'We are unbelievably proud'
At 1-1 the visitors were under increasing pressure and Rafael made three stunning saves to keep out Dowell's fierce strike, Kenny McLean's powerful header and a Todd Cantwell effort.
But he could do nothing to stop Dowell scoring his second from a tight angle - the midfielder finding the far corner from Cantwell's cheeky scooped pass from the left.
Pukki missed several decent opportunities, but Norwich's sixth win in seven against Reading was wrapped up late on.
Quintilla added a third with a classy 20-yard free-kick in to the top corner before a typical piece of Pukki quality increased the lead further, the Finn anticipating a casual backpass to round Rafael and gleefully smash the ball home for his 26th goal of the season.
Farke said the subsequent title celebrations in an empty stadium were "a bit surreal".
"It has been such a difficult season in terms of the challenges after relegation and this pandemic," Farke added.
"We are unbelievably proud and happy to bring some joy to the supporters."
Reading boss Veljko Paunovic paid tribute to the Canaries' achievement.
"I want to congratulate Norwich on winning the title. They are a fantastic side and have been throughout the whole season," he said.
"We came here to match up against a team that is the best this season and we did a very good job in the first half. Unfortunately we conceded a goal that was avoidable and made some mistakes where we could have done better.
"The second half we didn't start well and they took over very quickly.
"They got their goal advantage, we tried to fight back but we conceded two more - the fourth was an unlucky mistake from an honest approach to the game, that's all."