Boss Mick McCarthy says the Blues will have to be at the top of their game if they’re to beat a Norwich City side he believes are one of the favourites for promotion in Saturday’s East Anglian derby at Portman Road (Sky Sports 1/HD1 noon, KO 12.15pm).
"I think I’ve got a very capable, competent, competitive team but we’re playing against a team which has just come out of the Premier League with a lot of players who have played there for the last two seasons,” McCarthy said.
"We’ll need to play well, there’s no doubt about that. But I don’t even have to think about it, we will be competitive. We will be up for it. Whatever way I describe it, we’ll be full of that and then I just hope we play well alongside it all.”
The Town manager is expecting a typical Championship type of match but in front of a larger than usual Portman Road crowd likely to be around the 25,000 mark.
"I’m expecting a really competitive game, as the Championship is, but I guess there’ll be an extra bit of spice,” he added.
"The crowd will be bigger. There’ll be an exciting atmosphere. I’m expecting a good Norwich team because I’ve seen them play and I think they’re definitely one of the favourites for promotion to go back up.
"But we had it last year when we played two of the teams who had been relegated early on. They’re hard games but we’re doing OK. They’ll know they’ll be in for a game tomorrow.”
He says he’s looking forward to the match but not in quite the same way as supporters of the two clubs: "Of course I am, but I was looking forward to the Fulham game and the Birmingham game and the Reading game.
"I’m not from Ipswich, but I don’t underestimate what it means to the people who live in the area and support their local team because I’ve got the same feelings.
"I want to win every game me and I’m looking forward to it because it should be a big crowd and a great atmosphere. Let’s bring it on.
"Play well, be competitive and let’s hope we win. And I’m sure Neil Adams is saying exactly the same somewhere else.”
McCarthy, who says he doesn’t know his counterpart at Carrow Road, says he has great memories of derbies elsewhere.
"I loved them as a player,” he recalled. "Celtic-Rangers? Man U-Man City? I played in a few big ones and have managed a few as well, Newcastle and Sunderland, West Brom and Wolves.
"Great games, they are. The atmosphere is fantastic. The Celtic ones always stick out for me because as soon as you play on the Saturday you know you’re playing the following Saturday, nothing mattered until you’d played the Old Firm game the Saturday after.
"And nothing mattered unless you’d won, or drawn away from home. It’ll probably be similar tomorrow.”
How does an East Anglian derby compare to those other matches? "I can’t give an answer about the stature of the game when I haven’t experienced it.
"But I’ll just tell you one thing. It won’t come anywhere near a Celtic and Rangers game because I’ve been everywhere else and nothing has ever come near that. We’ll start at the top and I’ll find out where this ranks when we’ve played in it.”
McCarthy has no new injury problems with Cameron Stewart remaining sidelined with a broken jaw but on target for a return in around three weeks’ time.
He says Stephen Hunt, who played for the U21s at Lowestoft on Tuesday having been out with a calf problem, should be back for the Millwall match: "We’re looking at after the international break with Hunty, there was never a chance he was going to be involved or next week at Derby.
"I’ve just said to him, calm down, settle down, be ready when we come back and we’ve got Millwall, the first of three games in a week.”
McCarthy is unlikely to make too many changes from the team which claimed a 2-2 draw at Birmingham on Tuesday.
Dean Gerken will continue in goal, skipper Luke Chambers at right-back, Tyrone Mings on the left and Tommy Smith and two-goal top scorer Christophe Berra at the heart of the defence.
In midfield, local boy Luke Hyam will make his derby debut alongside Cole Skuse with Paul Anderson on the right and Jay Tabb on the left.
Up front, McCarthy was keeping his cards close to his chest regarding David McGoldrick’s role, but is likely to bring last season’s top scorer back into his starting line-up.
McGoldrick came off the bench in the second half at St Andrew’s as he continues his comeback after his knee injuries. Daryl Murphy will keep his place with Conor Sammon likely to drop to the bench.
Norwich’s new signings, defender Carlos Cuellar from Sunderland and Cameron Jerome, formerly with Stoke, are expected to go straight into their squad, while midfielder Leroy Fer moved to QPR earlier in the week.
Right-back Martin Olsson remains suspended for pushing a referee following his red card at Wolves on the opening day and midfielder Jonny Howson (knee) and striker Gary Hooper (calf) are both out injured. Defender Javier Garrido is a doubt with a hamstring problem.
Canaries boss Neil Adams says he knows all about East Anglian derbies and their importance to fans.
"I’ve played in many of them, I’ve watched many of them and now we’re going to go down there and will be coaching and managing in one of them,” he told Norwich’s official website. "I know exactly what it means to the supporters.
"People outside of East Anglia often don’t understand how big it is. They have the Manchester derby and the Merseyside derby and the Midlands derbies and many others, but the Norwich-Ipswich rivalry is just as fiercely contested.
"Both sets of supporters want it as much as anything else. They’re great to play in, once you’re out there you’re involved in it. Probably watching is not the easiest bit. They’re huge games and we know exactly what it means to the Norwich fans.”
The teams last met at Portman Road in April 2011 when Town fell to their second heavy derby defeat that season with Norwich winning 5-1.
An Arran Lee-Barrett error led to Andrew Surman’s opener, then a Gareth McAuley own goal increased the Canaries’ lead. Simeon Jackson added Norwich’s third, Jimmy Bullard pulled one back for the Blues but Russell Martin and Daniel Pacheco added the fourth and fifth late on.
In the previous November at Carrow Road, a Grant Holt hat-trick condemned 10-man Town to a 4-1 defeat.
Holt appeared to handle the ball in the run-up to the opening goal, but the Blues quickly struck back through Delaney.
The Canaries striker added his second before Delaney was harshly red-carded for hauling down the Norwich skipper virtually on halfway. After the break, Holt netted his third late on and sub Wes Hoolahan completed the scoring.
Town’s last derby victory was at Portman Road towards the end of Norwich’s 2008/09 relegation season with the Blues winning 3-2 in what proved to be Jim Magilton’s final game as Blues boss.
David Mooney put the Canaries in front before Town struck three times via Alan Quinn, Giovani Dos Santos (penalty) and Jon Stead with Sammy Clingan adding a consolation for the visitors towards the end, also from the spot.
None of the 18 from the last Portman Road match remain at the club and only two current Town players have appeared in previous derby squads with Tommy Smith is the only one to have actually played in a game, the 4-1 defeat at Carrow Road. Keeper Bartosz Bialkowski was on the bench in the 3-2 home victory in 2009 during his earlier loan spell at the club.
Historically, Town have the better record in East Anglian derbies, winning 40 (38 in the league), losing 36 (30) and drawing 17 (14). The 5-1 last time out is Norwich’s biggest derby victory, while Town have recorded 5-0 wins on three occasions, in 1946, 1977 and 1998.
First-year pro Ben Wyatt joined Town from the Canaries having been released at the end of his academy scholarship in the summer, while Norwich centre-half Ryan Bennett was an academy schoolboy with the Blues before being released at 16.
Town academy coach Alan Lee had a brief spell on loan at Carrow Road - he played for the Canaries in the 2009 Portman Road derby - while his Playford Road colleague Steve Foley was first-team coach at Norwich before he joined the Blues and came close to returning to Norfolk in the summer. Town keeper-coach Malcolm Webster worked with Norwich’s glovesmen earlier in his career.
Given the larger than usual crowd, there are changes to some of the usual matchday arrangements regarding access, ticketing and programme sales, the full details of which can be found here.
In addition, Princes Street will be closed between 2pm and 2.30pm following the match, while police have told pubs in town to consider closing in the two hours after the match,
Tickets are, at the time of writing, still on sale from ITFC Direct but will not be available on the day at the ground.
Saturday’s referee is Keith Stroud from Hampshire, who has shown eight yellow cards and no red in two games so far this season.
Stroud’s most recent Town match was the 2-0 defeat at Blackburn in April when he booked Luke Chambers and Anthony Wordsworth and two home players.
Stroud has previous experience of a Blues East Anglian derby victory. Back in February 2006 he was in charge of the 2-1 victory at Carrow Road when Town came from behind and won it via the famous ‘Hand of Haynes’ goal.
Squad from: Gerken, Bialkowski, Chambers (c), Hewitt, Mings, Parr, Smith, Berra, Skuse, Hyam, Bru, Bishop, Tabb, Anderson, Henshall, McGoldrick, Murphy, Bajner, Sammon.