Kieran McKenna confirms mixed triple Ipswich Town update ahead of Norwich City | OneFootball

Ipswich Town head coach Kieran McKenna has revealed a mixed injury update ahead of this Saturday's East Anglia Derby showdown at Norwich City

The race for automatic promotion to the Premier League is in full swing as we enter the dying embers of the 2025/26 Championship campaign, and it's Ipswich Town who emerged as the winners of the Easter Weekend to bolster their aspirations of returning to the promised land at the very first time of asking.

With Frank Lampard's Coventry City having strengthened their grip on the Championship's top spot in recent weeks by ascending towards an almighty 12-point advantage, Ipswich have been tussling for a second-placed finish with Middlesbrough and Millwall.

The Tractor Boys may be left frustrated by three draws from their last five outings, although Easter Monday's well-fought 2-1 victory over Birmingham City on a day where both Middlesbrough and Millwall dropped points has handed the advantage to Kieran McKenna.

Ipswich have now toppled the two automatic promotion contenders to reclaim second spot, and with the all-important bonus of having two games in hand, Town are continuing to make serious strides towards an instant top-flight return.

They will, however, see their mettle tested when they travel to fierce rivals Norwich City in this coming Saturday's edition of the East Anglia Derby, having claimed its bragging rights at Portman Road earlier in the campaign.

Much has changed since then, though, and they will be facing a resurgent Norwich side who have worked to their own advantage by beating fourth-placed Millwall away from home on Monday.

It's set to be a significant affair, and in its preparation, McKenna has delivered a mixed injury update as Ipswich bid to close in on promotion to the Premier League.

Kieran McKenna confirms mixed Ipswich Town update ahead of Norwich City

Ipswich could head to Carrow Road with a series of absentees following the aforementioned win against Birmingham, which saw Town advance one step closer to promotion while contending with player blows.

Dutch midfielder Azor Matusiwa, who has featured in and started every available fixture for McKenna's side this term, was hauled off on Monday with a dead leg to be replaced by Anis Mehmeti and will be closely watched in the coming days ahead of Norwich.

McKenna confirmed as much in the wake of the Birmingham clash and also revealed that striker Ivan Azon missed out on contention with a calf issue, while Wes Burns was set to start against Chris Davies' side before being struck down with a similar setback in training.

The availability of all three players remains very much up in the air heading into the Norwich fixture, with McKenna and co set to run the rule and monitor the conditions closely in the build-up to the trip to Norfolk.

Speaking after his side's victory over Blues, McKenna explained via TWTD: "Azor has a dead leg, so we’ll have to see how he recovers.

He picked it up really early in the game, which I think hampered him and hampered us, so he wasn’t able to continue."

McKenna added on Azon: "He had an issue over the international break, so not available. He had an issue in his calf, not a major one, but not available for today and we don’t know for the games coming up yet."

“Again, we have to assess,” the Northern Irishman continued of Burns.

"He was pretty close to today but then he had a little setback yesterday, so we’ll have to assess that in the next couple of days and see where he’s at."

Kieran McKenna will love one Ipswich Town factor as pre-Norwich City blow emerges

Although Norwich may just be licking their lips at McKenna's latest update as Philippe Clement continues a seriously encouraging uplifting of fortunes for the Canaries, Ipswich have long been lauded for possessing almighty strength in depth at this level and will now be able to exercise that when they head up the road to face City.

Matusiwa has been an invaluable addition in Town's engine room this season, though McKenna can call upon the likes of Jens-Lys Cajuste and Jack Taylor while also being able to move Marcelino Nunez into a deeper midfield role in order to accommodate talented playmaker Mehmeti in a central position.

As for Azon, who has struggled for form this term with just five strikes from 32 league appearances, Ipswich still have the likes of George Hirst and even Chuba Akpom to ensure that the Spaniard's potential absence is not felt as a critical blow.

And, in light of Burns' latest issue after recovering from an ACL injury earlier in the campaign, it's out wide where Ipswich are perhaps best stocked, with McKenna's ability to summon stars such as Jack Clarke, Mehmeti, Jaden Philogene and the Championship's most expensive player in history in Sindre Walle Egeli bound to be the envy of just about every manager in the division - even if it has caused more than a couple of headaches at Portman Road in recent times.

Nonetheless, it's occasions like this where McKenna will be grateful for the riches of quality throughout his squad, and while he would love to have a clean bill of health across the board for one of his side's stiffest tests against the old enemy, you do wonder how knocked they really will be from the three potential absences in question.