Ipswich Town will make the short trip north to face Norwich City on Sunday afternoon, with the two East Anglian rivals trying to stay in touching distance of the Sky Bet Championship play-off places.

Both clubs trying to jump the queue

Norwich and Ipswich are both in the same region geographically in the UK and the two football clubs find themselves in the exact same area of the Championship league table with a third of the season left.

The Canaries sit 13th in the league with 44 points from 31 games while the Tractor Boys are just above them in 12th with the exact same record.

Both clubs still have a shot at finishing in the top six of the league and making the end of season playoffs, but it's a long one due to the fact that both teams are at the back of a long list of sides eyeing up the magic sixth place in the table.

Norwich and Ipswich are only eight points off the playoffs, but there are five clubs between them and simply a chance of making it to the promised land of the Premier League.

Canaries dominate recent history

Ipswich have the slight edge in the overall history of this fixture, but in recent times the East Anglia region has firmly belonged to the city of Norwich in footballing terms.

A James Maddison strike gave Norwich a 1-0 win at Portman Road back in October and that continued an unbeaten run over Ipswich that carries back to April 2009.

Much to Norwich's fans delight, this season is a 17th straight one for Ipswich in the second tier, with the Canaries achieving three promotions to the top flight in this period despite also dropping down to League One in the last 16 years.

If Ipswich could end their derby drought this weekend, however, then they would all but end Norwich's chances of another promotion.

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Team news

Norwich manager Daniel Farke will have to wait for late checks on a few players before picking his team for the most important match of the club's season. 

Defenders Timm Klose and captain Ivo Pinto are doubts with calf and knee issues respectively, the latter's problem occurring after getting out of his car.

Midfielders Moritz Leitner and Harrison Reed are also touch and go to play on Sunday due to a minor calf problem for the former and back issue for the latter.

Ipswich could have striker David McGoldrick back after a knee injury and defender Tristan Nydam will definitely return after missing the draw with Burton Albion last week just because of illness.

Stats

Since the turn of the century, this fixture has been played on a Sunday 18 times, three times as any other fixture in the second tier.

Ipswich are looking for their third clean sheet in a row, the last time they achieved this many shutouts consecutively was in April 2013 when they went five games without conceding a goal.

Norwich's James Maddison has created the most chances in the league this season with 76.

Maddison's goals and assists tally has also won more points this season than any other player's, Maddison's nine goals and five assists have gained Norwich 20 points this season.

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About the author
Jamie Joslyn
20 year old sports journalism at Sunderland University, huge Sunderland fan