Steven Pressley admits Carlisle United must closely examine James Norwood’s style of play as the Blues try to tame English football’s leading marksman this weekend.

The Tranmere striker has 28 goals already this season and is a strong contender to be named League Two’s player of the year.

United must silence the 28-year-old to give themselves a chance of reigniting their play-off hopes at Prenton Park.

The Blues are also seeking a reversal of fortunes after one win in nine – compared with Tranmere’s superb run of six straight wins.

On the Wirral side’s in-form finisher, manager Pressley said: “The one thing we must always look at is the type of constants in his play.

“You sometimes can’t prevent certain goals happening but if there are certain movements he continues to make on a regular basis, or certain positions he takes up to score, we have to make our defenders aware of that.

“He’s had a wonderful season, as the league’s top scorer, and I think he should be very proud of his work, because he’s come through non-league and come into the game slightly later, but he’s certainly making an impact.”

This Saturday’s opponents have one of the strongest home records in the division under manager Micky Mellon.

They have not dropped a point since the middle of February – but Pressley believes he has identified ways they can be beaten.

“We’ve got a number of things to consider this weekend,” the Carlisle manager said.

“From the footage I’ve seen I don’t think their pitch is the best at this moment in time. That’s a consideration.

“There are a number of factors – how they play, what I think we need to do to win there, and we’re going to have a good discussion as a staff on that.

“There’s a couple of things I think we could do that could hopefully win us the game.

“We always give opponents respect, especially those on the kind of run they are, but I’m one that likes to concentrate on the way we do our job and on improving ourselves.”

It will be Carlisle’s first visit to Prenton Park since 2015 and they are set to be backed by a strong travelling support for one of the Blues’ closer away games in this season’s fourth tier.

On the Wirral club’s current form, which has taken them up to fifth, Pressley said: “It’s an incredible run of results, they’re unbeaten in their last eight and have had seven wins from eight – they really are the form team.

“They’ve got the momentum at the correct time and they’re a very robust team, a very strong team physically.

“It’s always a difficult place to go and get a result, especially when their confidence is high, but it’s a game we should really look forward to, because there are a lot of aspects of our own performance really improving in recent weeks, and we should also be encouraged by our most recent away performance [the 1-1 draw at Forest Green].”