Ipswich Town

Ipswich Town had to replace substitute Marcelino Nunez to protect their 2-0 East Anglian derby win at Norwich City, according to boss Kieran McKenna.

The midfielder made his first return to Carrow Road since leaving the Canaries to join Ipswich in August 2025 and was given a hostile reception by the home fans.

Nunez was introduced as a 61st-minute replacement but after being shown a yellow card was substituted with six minutes remaining.

"It was a difficult scenario for him, we protected it a little at the start but he's such an important player for us so when he came on the opponents were going to be wiring into him and trying to affect him physically and mentally," said McKenna

"The crowd were also going to try to get him sent off if he made challenges but would it have been such a big thing in a different game? I don't think it would have been."

With Norwich supporters howling for free kicks every time Nunez made a tackle he was hauled off and replaced by Dan Neil with McKenna keen to help not just the player but also his team.

"I thought the referee stayed strong but we couldn't give him any more decisons to make so we had to protect Marcelino and the group from that which is why we made the change," he added.

Ipswich moved back into second place in the Championship table with the win and visit Portsmouth on Tuesday (20:00 BST).

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The EFL has announced the fixtures for the 2026-27 season will be published at midday on Thursday, 25 June.

The first-round draws for the Carabao Cup and the Vertu Trophy will be made on the same day.

The new season will kick off on the weekend of August 7-9 with the first round of the Carabao Cup, and the opening fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two will follow a week later on 14-16 August.

The first round of the Vertu Trophy will be played in the week commencing 21 September.

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Ipswich Town will make decisions on Friday on the fitness of midfielder Azor Matusiwa and forward Ivan Azon as they prepare for Saturday's East Anglian derby at Norwich City (12:30 BST).

Matusiwa, 27, went off injured in the first half of Monday's 2-1 Championship win over Birmingham City while 23-year-old Azon missed that game.

Forward Wes Burns remains sidelined with a calf muscle injury sustained against Sheffield Wednesday last month but defender Leif Davis returns from a three-match suspension for violent conduct against Leicester at the start of March.

"He's been training of course and played some minutes over the international break so he'll be in the squad," Ipswich head coach Kieran McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk.

"We've got decisions to make and of course he's pleased to be back involved. It's been frustrating for him and for us as well and we know the quality that he has and what he can bring to the team.

"It's great to have him back involved and with the number of games we've got, we're going to need all hands on deck and Leif's an important player for us."

Ipswich are currently second in the Championship table and are hoping to seal a first league double over Norwich since 1993 having won the reverse fixture 3-1 at Portman Road in October.

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What a game in store on Saturday lunchtime (12:30 BST) as Ipswich head to Norwich for one of the biggest East Anglian Derbies in recent memory.

The Tractor Boys are unbeaten in eight games, earning 18 points, which took them into the automatic promotion places on goal difference, with games in hand on the sides around them, ahead of Millwall's Friday night game at West Brom.

The Lions were beaten 2-1 at home by Norwich on Monday, which left the Canaries on the fringe of the play-off race in ninth, though Southampton's thumping win at Wrexham on Tuesday night left Philippe Clement's men effectively nine points adrift of the top six with five games to play.

Kieran McKenna's side enjoyed a 3-1 win in the reverse fixture at Portman Road in early October and another at Carrow Road would not only be their first in more than 20 years and ensure local bragging rights, it would likely end their rivals' promotion hopes and give their own chances a massive boost.

• Norwich are unbeaten in their past nine home league games against Ipswich (W5 D4), since a 2-1 loss in February 2006.

• Following their 3-1 win in October, Ipswich are looking to complete the league double over Norwich for the first time since 1992-93.

• Since the turn of the year, Norwich City have won the most points of any Championship side (37), winning two more games (12) in that time than any other team. At the end of 2025, the Canaries were 23rd in the Championship, with only Sheffield Wednesday losing more games (14) than they had (13).

• Ipswich Town have had the most shots following a high turnover in the Championship this season (59), and have scored the most goals after a high turnover (11).

• In his first 25 Championship appearances this season, Norwich's Pelle Mattsson had 22 shots without finding the net. In his last three, he's had six attempts and scored a goal in all three games.

Marc Webber
BBC Final Score reporter

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With second in the form table hosting second in the actual table, this weekend's East Anglian derby is lining up to be one of the most important fixtures of its time.

Ipswich will take heart that they regained the derby crown earlier in the season, but fans and players will know 'them up the road' are having a resurgence since that 3-1 win at Portman Road one sunny Sunday afternoon in October.

And that is why nerves and emotions will be the decider of Saturday's game at Carrow Road.

Passion will either drive both sides to go all out in a potential thriller of a game.

Or nerves will make both sides play a cautious, dull game - with players being afraid of making the one mistake that could make them the headlines for the wrong reason.

The thing is, both sides realistically need a win. Norwich to keep a play-off place hope alive, Ipswich to put some distance between second and third place.

That's why it is hard to see this derby being anything short of a gung-ho thriller.

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Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna felt his side deserved to beat Birmingham City 2-1 at Portman Road, even though Blues had an equaliser controversially disallowed.

The officials wrongly ruled the ball crossed the by-line before it went in off Dara O'Shea, but McKenna preferred to focus on Ipswich's attacking play.

He told BBC Radio Suffolk: "I think first half, we deserved to be ahead for sure. I thought we were outstanding and we were good value to get a couple of goals.

"The half-time whistle came at the wrong time because we looked like we were going to score on every attack.

"The second half was really difficult and you have to give Birmingham credit for that. They're in a position where they had a swing at it. They've got some good players on the bench and brought on good forwards to throw everything at us.

"We had to try and be resilient and manage the game well, and we mostly did that."

McKenna said he wouldn't give Birmingham's controversial disallowed goal a "second thought".

He said: "I don't know whether the ball was in or out. I've not seen it back. In the Championship, you're flipping a coin on those because you don't know, the referees don't have the angles, the linesmen don't have the angles. But I'm not going to give that one a second thought."

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Championship clubs spent just over £69.5m on agents fees over the past 12 months according to figures released by the Football Association,, external an increase of £6m on the previous year.

The figures cover the period from February 2025 with Ipswich Town the top spenders, paying £11.7m having spent the first three months of the accounting period in the Premier League.

Southampton (£8.3m) and Leicester (£5.8m), who were relegated alongside Ipswich are the second and third-highest payers on the list.

Troubled Sheffield Wednesday were the most frugal when dealing with agents, spending £534,559.

Wrexham come in sixth on the list with an outlay of £3.6m while current Championship leaders Coventry spent just short of £1.5m.

Championship agents' fee spending, external

• Ipswich - £11,738,920

• Southampton - £8,381,358

• Leicester City - £5,866,587

• Sheffield United - £5,005,498

• Norwich - £4,020,206

• Wrexham - £3,660,584

• Swansea - £3,088,645

• Middlesbrough - £2,900,314

• Bristol City - £2,774,990

• Hull City - £2,450,431

• Stoke City - £2,088,886

• Birmingham City - £1,996,502

• Millwall - £1,982,348

• Preston North End - £1,831,233

• QPR - £1,829,036

• Watford - £1,612,833

• Coventry - £1,497,990

• Derby - £1,409,507

• West Brom - £1,346,030

• Oxford - £1,235,536

• Charlton - £904,698

• Portsmouth - £831,818

• Blackburn - £676,980

• Sheffield Wednesday - £534,559