Norwich City Fan View: The Canaries must beat Ipswich on Sunday, or our season is over

Norwich City will be looking to continue their recent dominance over local rivals Ipswich Town on Sunday as the East Anglian Derby returns to Carrow Road for the first time since the famous 3-1 play-off victory which sent Norwich to Wembley back in May 2015. City have not lost to Ipswich since April 2009, having won 5 and drawn 2 of the last 7 meetings, but with Mick McCarthy’s side coming into some form and Norwich as unpredictable as ever, City’s unbeaten run is potentially under threat.

On the back of last weekend’s defeat at Burton I, perhaps boldly, claimed that the top six was now nothing but a pipe-dream for City and, whilst I stand by this, Sheffield Wednesday’s surprise home defeat to Brentford on Tuesday has offered us a semblance of hope to cling to. With Wednesday and Leeds, the two sides that we are chasing, both playing each other, this weekend offers the perfect opportunity to try and close the daunting seven point gap that we are currently faced with. As Alex Neil said in his pre-match press conference; if Wednesday lose at Elland Road on Saturday, City continue their recent home form by beating Ipswich on Sunday and then travel to South Yorkshire next Saturday and over-turn Wednesday at Hillsborough – then suddenly the deficit will be down to one, with momentum in our favour. Of course, this is dependent on a lot of ‘ifs’ and if our away form this season is anything to go by then the chances of us even drawing, let alone winning, away at Wednesday are minimal but it does show how quickly things could potentially change and that perhaps it is premature to give up hope just yet.

For us to close the gap we are dependent on numerous permutations but one thing is absolutely certain: we must beat Ipswich on Sunday. Obviously, victory is primarily vital in order to keep up with the top six and to take advantage of the points that Wednesday or Leeds, or both, will drop on Saturday. Perhaps even more important than the points, however, is the momentum, or opposite, that victory or defeat will bring. If victory over the old enemy, and the adulation and worship that the Carrow Road crowd will give the players in return, is not enough to inspire a run of form that could propel us into the top six then nothing will. Conversely, should the unthinkable happen and we lose, then the fallout would be so huge that the season may as well end there and then. We are incapable of winning away at Burton on the back of six games unbeaten, can you imagine us going to Sheffield Wednesday and winning on the back of losing our most important game of the season? Not. Going. To. Happen.

I have not been this nervous, or bereft of confidence, for an East Anglian Derby since we traveled to Portman Road towards the end of our Championship relegation season in 2009 – indeed, the last time they actually beat us. Even for the two play-off games two years ago, whilst the magnitude and importance was far, far larger, I wasn’t hugely nervous – I knew we would win. We went into those games on the back of a run of form which saw us win home and away on a consistent basis, with Neil taking us from 7th to within points of the automatic promotion places within a matter of months. Back then, Neil was seen as nothing short of a miracle worker and I had full faith that he would lead us to victory. Fast forward two years and the majority of Norwich fans want rid of Neil, we have nothing like the consistency of 2014/15, and, whilst on paper our squad is probably stronger, our mental strength (which was a key asset of that team) is virtually non-existent. It almost feels like defeat to Ipswich is inevitably going to be the result that finally sees Norwich fans give up on Neil.

This being said, I wouldn’t be overly surprised if we find our A-game and thrash Ipswich 5-0 (and then lose at Hillsborough next week, of course). That’s Norwich for you, anything can happen – and I couldn’t possibly tell you what will.