“Two clubs, both alike in division, in fair East Anglia where we lay our Keane.” It may not be the stuff of Shakespeare but Sunday still has the makings of a classic.
Recent performances have been no comedy for Ipswich Town; defeat at Hull made it 3 straight losses for the second time under Roy Keane just weeks after his first hat-trick of horrors. Town still only lie 3 points off the playoffs, but since the Barnsley debacle, the manager has been walking a tightrope between those chanting his name and those cursing it. Whatever the fans or the media might think, the word ‘crisis’ would still be an exaggeration, but only another swift turnaround will keep the wolves from the manager`s door. And lo, who should now return but the old enemy…
For all their recent troubles, Norwich City have come back fighting. The Canaries responded to relegation in 2009 with a League One title win under new boss Paul Lambert in 2010 and haven’t looked back, carrying their momentum into the Championship to lie 8th, 5 places above Town. It is not a pretty sight for the Blues who would expect to have a greater say in the promotion mixup than their Norfolk neighbours, and it is one which the occasion will present heightened pressure to rectify. As a late twist in the plot, Keane has sought new blood in the prelude to this game, getting Gianni Zuiverloon and Rory Fallon on the books just before the curtains were drawn on the loan window. Yet whether they will steal the show or just serve as bit part players remains to be seen.
So cometh the hour, cometh the man? Taste triumph and Keane’s name will be written in Ipswich Town history; surrender to the villains and it will surely be nothing less than a tragedy for the leading man. You couldn’t write it, could you?
Norwich v Ipswich is live on BBC1 and BBC Radio 5 Live from 13:00 on Sunday.
Vital Quotes:
Given the occasion, it is no surprise that plenty of people have been having their say ahead of Sunday’s East Anglian derby.
Preparing for what could be the biggest match of his Ipswich Town managerial career to date, Roy Keane is hoping that his first-ever East Anglian derby match against Norwich will allow the Blues to put the recent run of results out of their minds.
‘We know what the game means to the fans and it’s a good opportunity for us to get back on track,’ Keane told Town’s Official Website. ‘It’s a derby game and we all know what they are like. They are hard to predict and in a sense, form goes out of the window. That might be a good thing for us though because although the effort has been fine over the last three games, we have lost football matches.’
Similarly Ipswich skipper David Norris, who has recently begun negotiations towards a new contract at Portman Road, has sought to calm fans frustrated with recent results by emphasising that the tightness of the Championship this season has shown Town’s inconsistency to be nothing remarkable.
‘One week you think you’re there and the next week you think you’re miles away’, Norris told BBC Radio Suffolk. ‘That seems to be the nature of this league, we win our next two games and we’re in the semi-final of the League Cup and just outside the play-offs. But you lose a couple and you’re out of the cup and you’re down towards relegation.’
‘It’s a fine line. It’s not like it’s just happening here, I think it will be happening at a lot of grounds.’
Meanwhile on the Norwich side, Paul Lambert – also preparing for his first taste of this particular rivalry – has expressed confidence about his team’s chances since promotion and believes that, with both teams having a similar season up to this point, there is now little to separate the two sides.
‘With the way we are playing and the way the atmosphere is at the stadium at the minute, we have given ourselves a decent chance,’ he told the Norwich City Official Website. ‘I’m sure all the Norwich fans are looking forward to it and they’ll want to get one over their nearest rivals and this is probably the closest derby there has been for a long while.’
‘But we’ve earned the right to put ourselves in a position to take them on, but at the same time also know how vital it is.’
But enough of that – the time for talk is over! Bring on the match!
Norwich City Team News:
Like Ipswich, Norwich also added to their squad in time for the derby match, bringing in 20-year-old Henri Lansbury on loan from Arsenal who could be lined up for his debut. He may be joined in the midfield by Andrew Surman who recently returned from a spell out with injury, but Korey Smith is a doubt as he bids to recover from an ankle injury suffered in the Canaries’ 3-3 draw at Reading two weeks ago. Adam Drury, Matt Gill, Stephen Hughes, Steven Smith and Zak Whitbread are all ruled out.
Player to watch: Grant Holt
There are few that will pose a more substantial threat to Town on Sunday than Norwich City dangerman Grant Holt, both as a scorer and provider. The former Nottingham Forest striker has never featured in an East Anglian derby before but comes into his first appearance with 4 goals and 6 assists to his name, making him the Canaries’ leader on both counts. He was also their top scorer with 24 goals in League One last season not to mention a further 11 assists. His most recent strike came in City’s 3-3 draw at Reading a fortnight ago, and the 29-year-old will be keen to add to those figures in this most meaningful of battles.
Ipswich Town Team News:
Ipswich Town’s injury woes are well-documented at the moment, with Roy Keane revealing on Friday that defensive star Gareth McAuley will be out for several months having had Achilles surgery. He is now joined on the sidelines by Connor Wickham, who misses the derby having picked up an injury in Town’s 4-1 reserves defeat to Tottenham (in which he was the Blues’ goalscorer). Tom Eastman, Luke Hyam and Mark Kennedy are also ruled out while Darren O’Dea is a further doubt whilst awaiting the birth of his child. Alan Quinn may finally be on the verge of a return having also played in the reserves game but is highly unlikely to be involved in this match, while concerns remain over Luciano Civelli. Given the extent of the problems therefore, Keane will no doubt welcome the arrival of loanees Gianni Zuiverloon and Rory Fallon as a boost to his options, the former almost certain to start in defence while Fallon could figure at some point.
Player to watch: Gianni Zuiverloon
Gianni Zuiverloon’s arrival at Portman Road on loan from West Bromwich Albion has come at just the right time. With Keane having no recognised right-backs available, the Baggies loanee is a natural choice to fill the gap. He was a regular feature in Roberto Di Matteo’s promotion squad having been at the Hawthorns since summer 2008, and is no stranger to the occasional goal either, netting 4 times in the Championship last season. Given the current defensive crisis at Ipswich, Zuiverloon is almost guaranteed to be handed his debut on Sunday and could play a very significant role in any hope that the Blues may have of coming away with the points against an attack-minded Norwich side.
Match Facts & Stats
FLC – (11th) Ipswich 3-2 Norwich (20th)
19 April 2009
Goalscorers
Ipswich: Quinn 24, Giovani (pen) 62, Stead 90
Norwich: Mooney 16, Clingan (pen) 90
Teams:
Ipswich: R Wright, Bruce, Campo, Balkestein, Thatcher (Peters 44), Giovani (Haynes 78), Norris, Shumulikoski, Quinn, Lisbie, Counago (Stead 79)
Norwich: Marshall, Otsemobor, Shackell, Doherty, Bertrand, Croft (McDonald 68), Clingan, Russell, Gow, Lee, Mooney
Match Prediction:
Knowing the opposition, I should at this point be swaggering in predicting a 9-0 trashing of the old enemy on their own turf. However, it’s not exactly easy to engage in self-assured banter when even you don’t believe what you’re saying! Norwich haven’t been in great form themselves recently with four successive draws, but with the way they have started this season back in the Championship, this match would have been a tough enough proposition at any point. Coming as it does on the back of three straight defeats for Ipswich with pressure mounting on the manager and a growing injury crisis at the club, suffice to say I’m not exactly swelling with optimism at this point! Of course however, as Keane has already alluded to, derby matches are nothing if not unpredictable, and given the Canaries’ absence from the Championship last season, most of the players that will be involved in this game have not been accustomed to the heat of the East Anglian rivalry. With both sides also likely to field debutants, there is a sense of an unknown quantity about both teams going into this game.
The last meeting between the two was what many came to see as the day Town sent Norwich down, so this is unlikely to be a friendly affair! All I can say is that whatever my head tells me – and I daren’t say what that is! – my heart will not allow me to say anything other than a Blues victory; after all, four straight defeats wouldn’t bear thinking about at the best of times, let alone at Carrow Road…!
Prediction: Trying to keep the faith… or at the very least, keep up appearances! Norwich 1-2 Ipswich.
Make your prediction for this match by joining the Vital Ipswich Prediction League! Click here for details or here to post your entry for this week’s fixtures. (Entries must be posted by 2:30pm on Saturday.)
Next Fixtures:
01/12 CCQ West Bromwich Albion (H)
04/12 FLC Swansea City (H) LIVE on Sky 12:45
11/12 FLC Preston (A)
For more build-up to the big match, why not take a look at our interview with the guys at Vital Norwich in ‘From the Other Side‘. You can also read the Vital Ipswich half over on the Vital Norwich website.
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