The 1st of March is unquestionably one of the key dates on any Canary fan’s calendar for this season as it’s of course this Sunday when we face our Suffolk rivals for the second time this campaign in a clash with deeply ingrained historical roots in the East of England. The Old Farm derby, a contest which since records began has seen the Yellows take one less point off Ipswich than the 61 which the Suffolk side have accumulated, yet in modern history Norwich have been very much in the ascendency – already having beaten the tractor boys 1-0 in their last encounter. The league difference in recent times has meant that younger fans such as myself have only witnessed a handful of these fierce derbies in our lifetimes and for many, at what will be a rocking Carrow Road come this weekend, will be their first. Historical rivalries aside, this game is of paramount importance to the League table with the winner guaranteeing finishing the afternoon in a higher position than the other, more importantly, with just six points separating first from sixth; a win would provide an unfathomable morale boost for the victor at a time when the season is approaching its climax.
The Yellows head into this game in some of the best form they’ve had all campaign, coming in off the back of a hard fought win over Blackburn in their last outing despite coming back from a goal down courtesy of a Bradley Johnson thunder bastard. That strike ensured that Norwich would take maximum points from their last five matches in comparison the nine which the Blues have accumulated – thereby demonstrating the home side’s superior recent form. Not only have we been winning, but we’ve been winning well, with confident clean sheets against Blackpool, Watford and Wolves – the latter of the three being (in my mind) far and away our greatest display all season. Moreover, our injury list is still looking nice and wafer thin with only the usual suspects of recent games in R. Bennett and O’Neil still unavailable for selection. The Belgian central midfielder, Odjidja-Ofoe is currently regaining his fitness with U21 game time but is looking unlikely to be in the mix for Sunday.
I’m fairly confident in saying that changes will be made from the starting XI against Blackburn for the derby, principally down to players such as Tettey being available for selection once again. Here’s what I’d opt for:
Preferred line up
I’ve gone for three changes from our last run out at Ewood Park in the form of the substitution of Whittaker, Dorrans and Hoolahan for Turner, Tettey and Jerome respectively. Whittaker’s removal is perhaps slightly harsh, but he was unquestionably at fault for Blackburn’s early goal and personally I just can’t put my confidence in him for a game of this gravitas. Tettey’s knee is in good condition and therefore he has to start alongside Johnson in the middle of the parks in place of Dorrans who proved somewhat ineffective on his debut. I’m told that Hooper was suffering from a bug midweek which was why he wasn’t on the team sheet against Blackburn so I’ve left him out in favour of Jerome in the event that he’s still unable to feature.
Verdict
One of my favourite tweets which I’ve seen in the last few days was a comeback to an Ipswich fan who was (highly originally) telling us that we all have ‘six fingers’, which read “having six fingers will make it easier to count the number of points we’ll take off you this season!” Honestly, I tend to agree with this. I’m not blindly optimistic enough to deny the quality of Mick McCarthy and the Ipswich players, but I genuinely believe we’re better and we’ll come out after 90 minutes in either third or fourth. As usual, I don’t want to over-analyse so I’m going to go for 3-1 to the Canaries and cross my fingers.
