Live updates from the local derby, kick-off 12pm GMTRoundup: Sunderland suffer against BrentfordEmail Nick or tweet @NickAmes82 with your thoughts 11.23am GMT That’s a . respectful lineup from McCarthy, who has left his flair players on the bench and matched Norwich up with a back three (which, I suspect, will work out as more of a back five). Plenty of craft and guile, though, in a Norwich side that includes Maddison and the mercurial German playmaker Moritz Leitner. Presumably Ipswich would like to keep this tight for an hour and then see about opening things up. 11.21am GMT Norwich City: Gunn; Reed, Zimmermann, Hanley, Klose, Lewis; Tettey; Leitner, Maddison, Murphy; Oliveira. Subs: McGovern, Pinto, Vrancic, Watkins, Stiepermann, Hernandez, Srbeny.Ipswich Town: Bialkowski; Iorfa, Chambers, Carter-Vickers, Webster, Knudsen; Connolly, Skuse, Gleeson; Waghorn, Garner. Subs: Crowe, McGoldrick, Celina, Spence, Ward, Hyam, Carayol. 10.40am GMT Contrary to appearances, this remains one of the country’s biggest regional set-tos. Yet these sides sit 12th and 13th in the Championship, level on points and with play-off hopes barely flickering. How on earth has it come to this?Norwich must be kicking themselves. They could have smacked this derby out into the long grass, rendering it a Southampton v Portsmouth or worse. Instead they wasted their most recent spells in the Premier League, overreaching with some ill-judged signings and poor backroom decisions, and find themselves four months shy of a parachute payment-free existence. They are rebuilding under Daniel Farke and it has not been all bad: they pass the ball very nicely at times, still have plenty of residual top-flight quality – including a real gem in the form of James Maddison – and are in their best form now since October, when they won 1-0 at Portman Road. Just one defeat in eight league games for them, and none in their last 11 (eleven) East Anglian derbies, so they rightly start as favourites today. Continue readingreadfullarticle
