Norwich v Ipswich betting tips

My fabulous weekend of sport started last Thursday with the NFL Thanksgiving triple header and shows no signs of slowing down. The Ashes are on to keep cricket fans happy, there’s rugby everywhere, loads of great football matches on, a big clash in Spain and a local derby to look forward to – there could be some very tired people come Tuesday morning!
Lets’ kick off with the Norwich v Ipswich derby this lunchtime. It’s a 1.15pm kick off and it’s live on BBC One if you can’t make it to Carrow Road.
It was only May of last year that the two sides last met – but that was so long ago that Bryan Gunn and Jim Magilton were in opposing dugouts. Ipswich will go into Sunday’s game with a run of three straight defeats, while Norwich have four straight draws.
So both teams are hardly picking up the points after relatively good starts – and that suggests the derby is probably heading for a draw. I’m certainly not going to back either side to win as they’re always so hard to predict and I don’t want to start making statements about form books and windows.
Norwich are 6/5 favourites which is unsurprising as they’re at home. Ipswich are around 5/2 for the win, with the draw at around 12/5.
What it is safe to say is that recent derby games have turned up some unusual scorers. In the last ten derbys we’ve had a brace from Malky Mackay, goals from the likes of Jimmy Juan, Jonatan Johansson, Luke Chadwick, David Wright, Ched Evans, Matty Pattison, David Mooney, Alan Quinn and Giovanni dos Santos.
Loan players and unlikely scorers often become derby day heroes, so instead of predicting the score in this one, it’s better to enjoy the game, cheer on your side and have a wager on some players to get on the scoresheet at long odds.
Norwich are sure to give a debut to loan signing Henri Lansbury who netted for Watford against Town last season. Take him at 5/1 with Paddy Power to net at anytime and also go for on loan centre half Leon Barnett to net at 10/1 with Bet 365. He netted last week against Leeds and is a real powerful presence at corners.
For Ipswich, I’d take Jack Colback at 13/2 and Tommy Smith at 20/1, both with Bet 365.
The last derby game to end 0-0 was the last one of the 20th century, in the 13 meetings since then there has been an average of 3.27 goals in these games, so take the over 2.5 goals at evens with Bet 365.
Enjoy the game.

* Article originally appeared in Evening Star on Friday. Find my betting tips in there each Friday.