Back Norwich to earn the bragging rights in Sunday's East Anglian derby.
Norwich v Ipswich - Sunday 12:00, Sky Sports 1
Mick McCarthy describes the East Anglian derby as a game where two of the nicest clubs in the country turn nasty for a day. But as always, he stops short of treating the game any differently to others, which perhaps explains why his record is so poor on these sort of occasions - just two wins in 18 derbies managing Sunderland, Wolves and now Ipswich.
On the road, it’s no win in eight attempts for McCarthy (D2 L6), including defeats by a two-goal margin on his two previous visits to Carrow Road and there’s value in the 2/1 available on Norwich to clear the -1 handicap here. The nature of the game dictates that Ipswich will feel compelled to overcommit if they fall behind and the Canaries have the quality to pick them off.
In contrast to McCarthy’s even-keel approach, Alex Neil talks readily about his players "rising to the occasion", even going so far as to ramp up the pressure by throwing it into the wider context of their play-off chase and the damage done last weekend by a surprise 2-1 defeat at Burton. It leaves his players under no illusions that only victory will suffice.
The respective home and away records throw further weight behind the Canaries - 11 wins out 16 for them, including 13 points from the last available 15, and only four wins out of 16 on the road for Ipswich. Throw an additional point on the Norwich/Norwich half time/full time bet at 9/5 with Coral, 13 of their 15 victories this term have arrived that way.
