Ex-Norwich City star takes aim at Ipswich Town's Marcelino Nunez - 'he let himself down' | OneFootball

Former Norwich City forward Iwan Roberts believes Ipswich Town midfielder Marcelino Nunez will not receive a warm welcome on his Carrow Road return.

Norwich City take on Ipswich Town in a mouth-watering East Anglian derby at Carrow Road in the Championship on Saturday.

Norwich were languishing in the relegation zone when Philippe Clement replaced Liam Manning in November, but a stunning run of form under the Belgian has seen them surge up the Championship table in recent months.

The Canaries continued their improvement as they picked up an impressive 2-1 victory over automatic promotion hopefuls Millwall at The Den on Easter Monday, but while they are now ninth in the table, the eight-point gap to the play-offs may be too much to make up with just five games of the season remaining.

While promotion is looking unlikely for Norwich, Ipswich moved up to second with a 2-1 win over Birmingham City at Portman Road on Monday, and Kieran McKenna's men have two games in hand over the two sides below them, Middlesbrough and Millwall, giving them a big advantage in the race for a top two spot.

After suffering their first defeat to the Tractor Boys in 16 years in October, the Canaries will be out for revenge on their own patch this weekend, and if there was not already enough tension between the two clubs, the return of Marcelino Nunez to Carrow Road will add some extra spice to the fixture.

Iwan Roberts slams Marcelino Nunez for Ipswich Town actions after Norwich City exit

Midfielder Nunez was a firm fan favourite during his three-year spell at Norwich, but that status was severely damaged in the summer when he made a shock move across the East Anglian divide, joining Ipswich for an initial fee of £7.2 million, plus a further £2.5 million in achievable add-ons.

The decision to sell Nunez sparked significant anger among the Carrow Road faithful, and the Chilean has starred for the Tractor Boys this season during their promotion push, scoring four goals and providing 10 assists in 32 appearances so far.

Nunez came in for strong criticism for his celebrations after Ipswich's 3-1 win over Norwich at Portman Road in October, and former Canaries forward Iwan Roberts has warned the 26-year-old that he will face a deserved backlash on his return to Norfolk on Saturday.

"I think he let himself down - I don't think he's going to get the red carpet treatment," Roberts told the Pink Un.

"He'll get everything he deserves.

"I thought Nunez was better than that if I'm being honest.

"I didn't think we'd see that side because these fans loved him. And he missed a lot of games, he was injured quite a lot, but they loved him, welcomed him with open arms, made him part of the city and the community, him and his family.

"I haven’t got a problem if he wants to move there, fine. But do it with dignity, mate.

"When people are egging you on as well and telling you to do things and you do get carried away in the heat at the moment and you do things that you think, I shouldn't have done that, what am I doing? And you see it back on the screen or whatever, ‘I'll let myself down there’.

"But he will be very, very warmly received! And do you know what? Rightly so. From how he behaved and conducted himself after he moved there, he could have dealt with it a lot better than he did.

"His former team-mates have got to be careful," Roberts added.

"If there's a tackle there to be won, and you could leave a little bit on him, okay, but that's when common sense has to come in.

"You can't be silly because it's going to be hard with 11 players against them. You don't want to be going out of 10 players. And that's where I'm saying, play the game and not the occasion."

Marcelino Nunez must prepare for furious Norwich City reaction at Carrow Road

Nunez became the first player to make the move between Norwich and Ipswich since Andy Marshall back in 2001 when he completed the switch to Portman Road in the summer, underlining just how unprecedented the deal was.

The anger of Canaries supporters will only have been heightened by how well Nunez has performed for the Tractor Boys, while they have arguably struggled to replace him for much of this season, although Pelle Mattsson's recent run of three goals in three games suggests he may be emerging as his successor.

With so much at stake for his side, it will be intriguing to see whether McKenna plays Nunez at Carrow Road on Saturday or takes him out of the firing line to avoid any unwanted distractions, but the fact he has been a regular for Ipswich this season suggests he will be in the starting line-up, and Norwich fans are unlikely to hold back in making their feelings known.