Norwich City v Ipswich Town: Back 14/1 Bet Builder in feisty Old Farm derby

• Over 4.5 cards landed in 4 of ref's last 6

• McLean booked 9 times this season

• Sainz committed 2+ fouls in 3 of last 4 games

• Get a completely free acca or Bet Builder this weekend

Norwich v Ipswich
Saturday, 12:30
Live on Sky Sports Football

We're often told these days that a game of football is 'massive,' or that it 'doesn't get much bigger than this.' This game, though, really is massive. Let's put the ferocious hatred between the two teams to one side for a second and just look at what's at stake for both.

Norwich come into this still in sixth despite an Easter Monday defeat at Leicester, thanks to most of the teams below them also losing. There is a four-point gap to Coventry in seventh and one more to Preston, but both of those sides have a game in hand on the Canaries, so dropped points here would take their play-off hopes out of their own hands.

It's not a dissimilar situation with Ipswich, who would take a four-point lead over Leeds with a win here and pull five ahead of Leicester. Their games-in-hand would come at 3pm though, and Town can surely expect to lose the first position by 5pm if they don't take all three points.

Teams	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	PTS	xGF	xGA	xGD	EXP	FCST
1 Coventry	46	28	11	7	97	45	95	0	0	0
2 Ipswich	46	23	15	8	80	47	84	0	0	0
3 Millwall	46	24	11	11	64	49	83	0	0	0
4 Southampton	46	22	14	10	82	56	80	0	0	0
5 Middlesbrough	46	22	14	10	72	47	80	0	0	0
6 Hull	46	21	10	15	70	66	73	0	0	0
7 Wrexham	46	19	14	13	69	65	71	0	0	0
8 Derby	46	20	9	17	67	59	69	0	0	0
9 Norwich	46	19	8	19	63	56	65	0	0	0
10 Birmingham	46	17	13	16	57	56	64	0	0	0
11 Swansea	46	18	10	18	57	59	64	0	0	0
12 Bristol C	46	17	11	18	59	59	62	0	0	0
13 Sheff Utd	46	18	6	22	66	66	60	0	0	0
14 Preston	46	15	15	16	55	62	60	0	0	0
15 QPR	46	16	10	20	61	73	58	0	0	0
16 Watford	46	14	15	17	53	65	57	0	0	0
17 Stoke	46	15	10	21	51	56	55	0	0	0
18 Portsmouth	46	14	13	19	49	64	55	0	0	0
19 Charlton	46	13	14	19	44	58	53	0	0	0
20 Blackburn	46	13	13	20	42	56	52	0	0	0
21 West Brom	46	13	14	19	48	58	51	0	0	0
22 Oxford	46	11	14	21	45	59	47	0	0	0
23 Leicester	46	12	16	18	58	68	46	0	0	0
24 Sheff Wed	46	2	12	32	29	89	0	0	0	0

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Now we can throw into the mix the rabid contempt that these two fanbases feel towards each other, with the sprinkling of intrigue that a Norwich win would make a two-legged Old Farm derby in the play-offs much more likely. This is not just another game.

Leg 1: Over 4.5 cards

There were only two cards when these two sides met earlier on the season, but we can expect that to be the exception rather than the rule.

Referee for the day Matt Donohue has averaged 4.35 yellows per game this season in the Championship so, given both the expected feisty nature of the match and what's at stake, we can expect him go past that here. This would have copped in four of the last six games Donohue officiated.

Leg 2: Kenny McLean to be shown a card

McLean has been shown nine yellow cards this season, so it's a huge surprise to see him available at 7/2 in this market and I wouldn't put you off a single.

He'll be in a physical midfield battle with Sam Morsy and Massimo Luongo and has to be the most likely Norwich player to pick up a card, which is not reflected in his price.

Leg 3: Borja Sainz to commit 2+ fouls

As a wide-player with an eye for spectacular goals, the defensive side of Sainz's game is somewhat lesser known.

He's committed two or more fouls in seven games this season, including in three of Norwich's last four games. We can expect plenty of infringmenets here and Sainz is a big price to be involved.

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