Saturday lunchtime in Norfolk will see arguably the biggest ever East Anglian derby take place as Norwich City host Ipswich Town in the second leg of their Championship playoff semi-final.
The tie is evenly poised after a 1-1 score in the first leg and it is all to play for as the Old Farm duo eye the final at Wembley on Bank Holiday Monday later this month.
Norwich
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A run of 15 wins from their last 22 league games under new manager Alex Neil gave Norwich hope of going straight back up to the Premier League automatically, but they fell three points short and a mouthwatering double-header against arch-rivals Ipswich resulted as they climbed to third on the final day of the campaign and the Blues hung on to sixth spot on goal difference.
Portman Road sold out for the first leg and a tense affair followed, with both sides wary of giving up too much of an advantage going into the second leg. Norwich started slowly, but they took the lead four minutes before the break when Cameron Jerome surged down the left and cut back for Jonny Howson to side-foot home.
Canaries keeper John Ruddy made a fine double-save in the early stages to keep Ipswich out, but he will be angry by how he pushed Freddie Sears's shot back into the danger zone to offer Paul Anderson the chance to stroke home minutes later in first-half stoppage time.
Ruddy is considered a goalkeeper of Premier League quality and rumours have emerged that Premier League champions Chelsea are eyeing the former Everton man to be their new back-up when Petr Cech leaves.
Norwich managed to keep the bulk of their squad together after relegation a year ago, but if they fail to earn promotion straight back to the top flight, they will have a hard job on their hands keeping the likes of Ruddy, Martin Olsson and Bradley Johnson this summer.
Neil's side collected more points away than at home this season, but they have won three of their last four matches at Carrow Road, scoring nine goals in those victories.
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Ipswich
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Top-two contenders for over half of the season, Mick McCarthy's Ipswich just about squeezed into the top six despite a final-day defeat at Blackburn Rovers.
That made it seven defeats in their last 10 away games and they have won just one of their last seven on the road. However, that did impressively come at automatically promoted Watford.
Ipswich's recent record against Norwich isn't great, but they performed fairly well in games against tough opposition this season, doing the double over Watford and not losing in either match against champions Bournemouth.
The bulk of their points came at home - no side had more in front of their own fans - and not winning the home leg could cost the Blues as they hope to end their 13-year stay in the Championship.
Daryl Murphy scored six more goals than anyone else this term, but he had little change out of Norwich's defence in the first leg and will hope for more luck in the second leg.
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Team News
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Neil has no need to make any changes, but is still without Lewis Grabban, who serves the last of his three-game ban.
Wes Hoolahan and Gary Hooper were both brought on in the second half and the duo could earn starting spots ahead of Nathan Redmond and Cameron Jerome.
McCarthy will be forced into at least one change after Varney had successful surgery on a ruptured Achilles that will keep him out of action for at least six months.
It would be a surprise if Anderson isn't the man to replace him in the starting lineup after coming on and bagging the Blues' equaliser. Elsewhere, Jay Tabb could take Kevin Bru's place in midfield.
Norwich possible starting lineup:
Ruddy; Whittaker, Martin, Bassong, Olsson; Tettey, Howson; Hoolahan, Dorrans, Johnson; Hooper
Ipswich possible starting lineup:
Bialkowski; Chambers, Berra, Smith, Mings; Anderson, Skuse, Bishop, Tabb; Sears, Murphy
Head To Head
Norwich have won each of their last three at Carrow Road against Ipswich, and are unbeaten in five against their rivals.
Anderson's goal was the first time that Ipswich scored against their arch-rivals this term after losing the two regular-season meetings 1-0 and 2-0.
A Norwich goal seems likely as Ipswich have gone seven away games against the Canaries without a clean sheet.
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Hit play below to see what the Sports Mole Sofa had to say about this encounter:
We say: Norwich 1-1 Ipswich
Ipswich did well to restrict and limit Norwich going forward in the first leg, but not winning at Portman Road could hurt their chances because of their worrying away form. With so much at stake and a tense atmosphere likely, another draw might be played out, with Norwich's quality proving the deciding factor in extra time.
Pascal Lemesre
