Ipswich Town

Image source, Opta

What a game in store on Saturday lunchtime (12:30 BST) as Ipswich head to Norwich for one of the biggest East Anglian Derbies in recent memory.

The Tractor Boys are unbeaten in eight games, earning 18 points, which took them into the automatic promotion places on goal difference, with games in hand on the sides around them, ahead of Millwall's Friday night game at West Brom.

The Lions were beaten 2-1 at home by Norwich on Monday, which left the Canaries on the fringe of the play-off race in ninth, though Southampton's thumping win at Wrexham on Tuesday night left Philippe Clement's men effectively nine points adrift of the top six with five games to play.

Kieran McKenna's side enjoyed a 3-1 win in the reverse fixture at Portman Road in early October and another at Carrow Road would not only be their first in more than 20 years and ensure local bragging rights, it would likely end their rivals' promotion hopes and give their own chances a massive boost.

• Norwich are unbeaten in their past nine home league games against Ipswich (W5 D4), since a 2-1 loss in February 2006.

• Following their 3-1 win in October, Ipswich are looking to complete the league double over Norwich for the first time since 1992-93.

• Since the turn of the year, Norwich City have won the most points of any Championship side (37), winning two more games (12) in that time than any other team. At the end of 2025, the Canaries were 23rd in the Championship, with only Sheffield Wednesday losing more games (14) than they had (13).

• Ipswich Town have had the most shots following a high turnover in the Championship this season (59), and have scored the most goals after a high turnover (11).

• In his first 25 Championship appearances this season, Norwich's Pelle Mattsson had 22 shots without finding the net. In his last three, he's had six attempts and scored a goal in all three games.

Marc Webber
BBC Final Score reporter

Image source, Shutterstock

With second in the form table hosting second in the actual table, this weekend's East Anglian derby is lining up to be one of the most important fixtures of its time.

Ipswich will take heart that they regained the derby crown earlier in the season, but fans and players will know 'them up the road' are having a resurgence since that 3-1 win at Portman Road one sunny Sunday afternoon in October.

And that is why nerves and emotions will be the decider of Saturday's game at Carrow Road.

Passion will either drive both sides to go all out in a potential thriller of a game.

Or nerves will make both sides play a cautious, dull game - with players being afraid of making the one mistake that could make them the headlines for the wrong reason.

The thing is, both sides realistically need a win. Norwich to keep a play-off place hope alive, Ipswich to put some distance between second and third place.

That's why it is hard to see this derby being anything short of a gung-ho thriller.

Image source, Getty Images

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna felt his side deserved to beat Birmingham City 2-1 at Portman Road, even though Blues had an equaliser controversially disallowed.

The officials wrongly ruled the ball crossed the by-line before it went in off Dara O'Shea, but McKenna preferred to focus on Ipswich's attacking play.

He told BBC Radio Suffolk: "I think first half, we deserved to be ahead for sure. I thought we were outstanding and we were good value to get a couple of goals.

"The half-time whistle came at the wrong time because we looked like we were going to score on every attack.

"The second half was really difficult and you have to give Birmingham credit for that. They're in a position where they had a swing at it. They've got some good players on the bench and brought on good forwards to throw everything at us.

"We had to try and be resilient and manage the game well, and we mostly did that."

McKenna said he wouldn't give Birmingham's controversial disallowed goal a "second thought".

He said: "I don't know whether the ball was in or out. I've not seen it back. In the Championship, you're flipping a coin on those because you don't know, the referees don't have the angles, the linesmen don't have the angles. But I'm not going to give that one a second thought."

Image source, Getty Images

Championship clubs spent just over £69.5m on agents fees over the past 12 months according to figures released by the Football Association,, external an increase of £6m on the previous year.

The figures cover the period from February 2025 with Ipswich Town the top spenders, paying £11.7m having spent the first three months of the accounting period in the Premier League.

Southampton (£8.3m) and Leicester (£5.8m), who were relegated alongside Ipswich are the second and third-highest payers on the list.

Troubled Sheffield Wednesday were the most frugal when dealing with agents, spending £534,559.

Wrexham come in sixth on the list with an outlay of £3.6m while current Championship leaders Coventry spent just short of £1.5m.

Championship agents' fee spending, external

• Ipswich - £11,738,920

• Southampton - £8,381,358

• Leicester City - £5,866,587

• Sheffield United - £5,005,498

• Norwich - £4,020,206

• Wrexham - £3,660,584

• Swansea - £3,088,645

• Middlesbrough - £2,900,314

• Bristol City - £2,774,990

• Hull City - £2,450,431

• Stoke City - £2,088,886

• Birmingham City - £1,996,502

• Millwall - £1,982,348

• Preston North End - £1,831,233

• QPR - £1,829,036

• Watford - £1,612,833

• Coventry - £1,497,990

• Derby - £1,409,507

• West Brom - £1,346,030

• Oxford - £1,235,536

• Charlton - £904,698

• Portsmouth - £831,818

• Blackburn - £676,980

• Sheffield Wednesday - £534,559

Image source, Getty Images

Derby forward Sam Szmodics has praised the medical staff who helped him after he was knocked unconscious while playing for the Republic of Ireland in their World Cup play-off defeat by the Czech Republic on Tuesday night.

The 30-year-old, who is on loan at the Rams from Ipswich Town, was left on the ground in Prague following an aerial challenge, six minutes after coming on as a substitute in extra-time.

He left the pitch on a stretcher and was taken to hospital where head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson confirmed shortly after the game he was conscious.

"Gutted the way it ended. Fans and boys immense all evening," Szmodics said in a post on X., external

"Appreciate everyone's messages and thank you to the medical staff who acted so quickly to help me. On the mend."

The Republic led 2-0 inside 25 minutes of the tie only to be pegged back by the home side and go on to lose 4-3 on penalties.

Ipswich midfielder Dan Neil says his old Sunderland team-mate Jack Clarke could prove the difference in their quest for automatic promotion.

The 25-year-old winger stole the show in Saturday's draw with promotion rivals Millwall at Portman Road, breaking the deadlock with his 14th goal of the Championship season, only for the Lions to hit back in the second half.

Neil played 97 times alongside Clarke across four seasons at Sunderland and has now had eight games with him in the Ipswich side after joining on loan from the Black Cats in January.

"That was probably the best Jack Clarke performance I have seen since I got back playing with him," Neil told BBC Radio Suffolk. "He was direct, the right-back was almost a bit scared when he was getting it.

"When he's on it, he's by far the best winger in this league, bar none, and you saw that.

"We need to keep feeding him the ball in dangerous areas between now and the end of the season and he can be the difference-maker for us."

Neil admitted that overall Ipswich felt the draw was "two points dropped" despite staying above Millwall on goal difference, two points behind Middlesbrough in the second automatic promotion place.

"With Middlesbrough drawing it feels an opportunity missed but it's another point on the board, we still have the game in hand so we're still in a good position," he added.

"The old cliché is taking one game at a time. Saturday was the best atmosphere I have heard since I've been here. Eight games to go, we're going to need everybody - players, staff, fans - to try to get us over the line."

Neil helped Sunderland to promotion via the play-offs last season but says there are not many parallels between their position and the Tractor Boys' this season.

"You just have to keep going until the end. It's slightly different (this season). With Sunderland at this point we were rooted in fourth, really in a little bit of no man's land, no chance to get second or seventh.

"We have an unbelievable chance to sneak into the top two. Away from home we need to do slightly better with the mentality - it's more siege mentality, their fans are going to want to spoil our promotion chase. We need to stick together."

Image source, Getty Images

Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna said his side were not ruthless enough in attack in the 1-1 draw with fellow promotion chasers Millwall.

"We should win from where we had it," McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk. "The performance in the first half was really, really good and we gave them so many problems and dominated the game.

"But we would like to have executed better and should have opened up a two-goal lead to give us that margin, and in the second half we had so many moments on the edge of the box.

"They defended well and got bodies in the way but we still could have executed better to kill the game off. When you don't, with a team like Millwall you know they carry such a threat and can score from not very much - and they did that with the goal.

"They threw everything at us and your goal is always going to be under threat so the best way is to kill the game at the other end, but we didn't."

Image source, Shutterstock

Ipswich Town will be without forward Wes Burns for their Championship match at home to Millwall on Saturday (12:30 GMT), while Marcelino Nunez is also a doubt.

Burns was forced off in the latter stages of last weekend's 2-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday with a calf injury, while midfielder Nunez has missed the past two matches with a hamstring issue.

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk: "Wes won't be available. It's not a serious injury, which is a positive and all being well he'll be available after the international break.

"Marcelino is touch and go so we'll see how he is."

Ipswich are currently third in the Championship table, level on points with fourth-placed Millwall and only two behind Middlesbrough, who occupy the second automatic promotion place.

"Millwall have done very well, as is clear to see in their results, and when you watch the games you see how competitive they are," added McKenna.

"They are really strong at set plays and have a counter-attack threat so it's going to be a tough game, as they all are in the Championship."