Sports Mole looks ahead to the first leg of what is a huge East Anglian derby in the Championship playoff semi-finals between Ipswich Town and Norwich City.

For the first time in 10 seasons, Ipswich Town are back in the Championship playoffs and up against their bitter rivals Norwich City in a mouthwatering semi-final.

Given what's at stake, this two-legged affair is arguably the biggest East Anglian clash ever and one the fans in Norfolk and Suffolk can't stop speaking about ahead of Saturday lunchtime's first leg.

Ipswich

The Tractor Boys were automatic promotion contenders for over half of the season, but won just nine of their 22 league games since the turn of the year to scrape into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth.

Going into the final day, Mick McCarthy's side were fifth in the standings and needed a draw at Blackburn Rovers to secure their place in the top six. They couldn't have got off to a better start at Ewood Park as Daryl Murphy walloped home goal number 26 of the season, but it all went wrong as three goals were conceded in 22 minutes.

Murphy pulled one back with a late penalty, but Ipswich couldn't get the draw they needed. However, with Derby County surprisingly losing to Brentford, Ipswich snuck in with a better goal difference than Wolverhampton Wanderers.

With Norwich claiming victory and Middlesbrough just drawing, it meant that by finishing sixth Ipswich would be up against their arch rivals in the semi-finals.

They will hope that they can use their excellent home form at Portman Road to take a first-leg lead on Saturday lunchtime. No side earned more points than Ipswich at home this term and they are unbeaten in seven in Suffolk, winning five and drawing two.

Ipswich won the Championship playoffs to achieve promotion in 2000, but their six other appearances have ended at the semi-final stage.

McCarthy's playoff record could also be better - his previous two playoff campaigns have ended at the semi-final stage, losing on penalties to Crystal Palace with Sunderland in 2004 and being beaten by West Bromwich Albion in 2007 with Wolves.

Recent form: LWWDWL

Norwich

While Ipswich were top-two contenders in the opening half of the season and tailed off, Norwich's form since the turn of the year is the reason they almost were promoted straight back to the Premier League automatically.

Young manager Alex Neil left Hamilton Academical in January to replace Neil Adams and oversaw 15 wins from 22 games since arriving. Twice they had runs of six straight wins to mount a charge for the top two, but in the end fell three points short with one win from their last three games.

They finished the season on a high with a 4-2 win over Fulham and once again Bradley Johnson inspired victory, scoring two goals (and an own goal) to take his tally to the season to 15. Never before has he scored more than seven league goals in a season and it was a surprise to see him omitted from both the league's top 10 and the PFA Team of the Year.

Ipswich built their success this season on their form at home, but for Norwich they achieved more of their points on their travels. In fact, no side in the Championship managed more than 44 and the Canaries are unbeaten in 11 away games.

Norwich haven't been in the playoffs as much as Ipswich, but their one previous appearance ended in heartbreak as they lost on penalties to Birmingham City in the 2002 final.

Recent form: WWWLDW

Team News

Lewis Grabban of Norwich City celebrates his goal during the Sky Bet Championship match between Norwich City and Ipswich Town at Carrow Road on March 1, 2015

Ipswich have no new injury concerns and could field the same XI that started at Blackburn. The toughest decision McCarthy has to make is on the right of midfield, where Jonathan Parr and Paul Anderson are battling to start.

One man guaranteed to be in the lineup is Murphy, who with 27 league goals this season has six more than anyone else in the Championship and is the top scorer in England's top four leagues.

Neil rested some of his key players for the visit of Fulham and both Steven Whittaker and Graham Dorrans could return.

Up front, Lewis Grabban will be missing for both legs as he serves the second and third games of his three-match ban. His absence will be a blow to the Canaries as he scored in both matches against Ipswich in the regular season.

Ipswich possible starting lineup:
Bialkowski; Chambers, Berra, Smith, Mings; Parr, Skuse, Bishop, Tabb; Sears, Murphy

Norwich possible starting lineup:
Ruddy; Whittaker, Martin, Bassong, Olsson; Dorrans, Howson; Redmond, Johnson, Hoolahan; Hooper

Head To Head

The bragging rights certainly belong to Norwich fans at the moment as they have won the last four Old Farm derbies by an aggregate scoreline of 12-2.

This season Ipswich didn't score in either game against their rivals, going down 1-0 at home in August before losing 2-0 at Carrow Road in March.

McCarthy has openly admitted that the Canaries will start as clear favourites, while Neil has billed it as the biggest East Anglian derby ever.

Video Preview

Hit play below to see what the Sports Mole Sofa had to say about this encounter:

We say: Ipswich 2-2 Norwich

Ipswich will be hard-pressed to keep Norwich out as they haven't kept a clean sheet in their last 10 home matches against the Canaries, but they will hope Murphy can fire them to victory. Given that Ipswich have won just two of their last 10 away games and lost seven of them, you feel that the Blues need at least a draw to take to Carrow Road. A near sell-out is expected at Portman Road and the hosts might just do enough to earn a draw.