The day is almost upon us...our unbeaten streak in the derby games could be coming to an end...BUT anything can happen in the derby so lets hope we can drag the record on for a bit longer! The East Anglian derby takes place this weekend with Norwich City travelling south to Ipswich Town in the Sky Bet Championship on Saturday (KO 12.30pm). Norwich returned to winning ways on Wednesday, beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 at Carrow Road thanks to goals from Borja Sainz, Ashley Barnes and Jonathan Rowe. I for one was delighted with the inclusion of Sainz for his first start and he put in a performance that begged the question, why have we had to wait so long for him to start? After having such an impact on his first start it will be interesting to see whether Wagner sticks with him or opts for the more experienced Hernandez, I personally would keep the same team as started the game. The Opposition Ipswich Town have enjoyed a strong return to the Sky Bet Championship this season, and currently find themselves in the automatic promotion spots. Their last outing was a 2-1 win against Watford in midweek, coming from a goal behind at Vicarage Road. One to Watch Conor Chaplin Formerly of Portsmouth, Conor Chaplin joined Ipswich Town in 2021 and has scored 48 goals in 120 games for the club since. He scored 26 in League One as Ipswich got promoted last year and has got eight in the Championship in this campaign. Head coach Kieran McKenna After injury cut his career short at Tottenham Hotspur, Kieran McKenna turned his hand to coaching. He then joined Manchester United as an Under-18s coach and eventually worked his way to the first-team set-up under Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He joined Ipswich in December 2021. Positive vibes!!! ON THE BALL CITY!!! NEVER MIND THE DANGER!!!
Quality thread as usual buddy. See us through to the New Year, with a resounding victory. I really believe we can win this. The pressure from the home crowd will have a significant impact on the home team, high expectations of an easy victory could backfire on them. I'm going for a 2-0 win to us. COYY
Another great Match Thread Suffolk. Let's hope we can perform at our best and quieten their noisy crowd. OTBC!
PRESSER HEADLINES: Grant Hanley (hamstring) will play 45 mins for the U21s on Sunday. Picked up a recent hamstring issue that halted his comeback from an achilles injury earlier this year. Likely to need two to three weeks to build up his fitness. Jaden Warner has been dealing with a stress injury. Returned to training on Tuesday. Ben Gibson (broken foot) back in training next week, Josh Sargent (ankle ligaments) the week after that and Hwang Ui-jo (hamstring) later in that week
As much as I would like Norwich to win, Ipswich have to be the favourites, they have started the first half of the season like an express train. If I was the manager I think I would see if Ipswich will be so pumped up the first 10 mins or so that we could get a player sent off and level the field a bit.
So, the day has arrived. Can't say that I feel especially confident. A point would be tremendous for us but I don't see it happening
We are underdogs for the first time in quite a while. Interesting dynamic - a draw would be a great result. The notable thing in the last few weeks is how the team seems to have turned a corner on grit and being under pressure. No longer collapsing when we concede. This is a very new type of pressure today, will be interesting to see how they respond. Good news on injuries - sounds like we will have a bunch of new players in January without signing anyone!
My daughter's gymnastics club is near Ipswich Station it should be pretty Rowdy on the train I'll post some pictures of the noisey neighbours
