The race for automatic promotion to the Premier League is in full swing as we enter the final stages of the 2025/26 Championship season, and Ipswich Town emerged as the winners of the Easter Weekend, bolstering their hopes of returning to the promised land at the first time of asking.

The Tractor Boys may be unhappy after three draws in their past five games, but Kieran McKenna’s hard-fought 2-1 victory over Birmingham City on Easter Monday, on a day when Middlesbrough and Millwall both dropped points, gave him the advantage.

Ipswich have already beaten the two automatic promotion contenders to retake second place, and with the crucial advantage of having two games in hand, Town are making real progress towards an immediate return to the top flight.

They will, however, put their mettle to the test when they go to arch rivals Norwich City in the East Anglia Derby this Saturday, having previously claimed bragging rights at Portman Road earlier in the season.

Much has changed since then, and they will face a revived Norwich side, who beat fourth-placed Millwall away on Monday.

It’s going to be a big game, and McKenna has provided a mixed injury update as Ipswich look to clinch promotion to the Premier League.

Kieran McKenna confirms mixed Ipswich Town report ahead of Norwich City. The team may face absentees after their recent success against Birmingham, which brought them closer to promotion despite player injuries.

Azor Matusiwa, a Dutch midfielder who has appeared in and started every available game for McKenna’s side this season, was pulled out on Monday with a dead leg and replaced by Anis Mehmeti. He will be keenly observed in the coming days ahead of Norwich.

McKenna confirmed this during the Birmingham game, as well as revealing that attacker Ivan Azon was ruled out due to a calf injury, while Wes Burns was expected to start against Chris Davies’ side before suffering a similar setback in training.

The availability of all three players remains uncertain ahead of the Norwich game, with McKenna and co. planning to run the rule and closely monitor the conditions in the lead-up to the trip to Norfolk.

Following his team’s victory over Blues, McKenna told TWTD: “Azor has a dead leg, so we’ll have to see how he recovers.

He picked it up quite early in the game, which I believe handicapped him and us, so he was unable to continue.”

McKenna added of Azon: “He had an issue during the international break, so he was unavailable. He had a calf issue, not a major one, but he was unable to play today and we are unsure about the upcoming games.

“Again, we have to assess,” the Northern Irishman added about 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 enjoy one Ipswich Town factor as the pre-Norwich City blow develops.

Although Norwich may be licking their lips at McKenna’s latest update as Philippe Clement continues to lift the Canaries’ fortunes, Ipswich have long been praised for their immense depth at this level, which they will now be able to put to use when they travel up the road to face City.

Matusiwa has been an essential addition to Town’s engine room this season, but McKenna can also rely on Jens-Lys Cajuste and Jack Taylor, as well as slide Marcelino Nunez into a deeper midfield role to accommodate brilliant playmaker Mehmeti in the centre.

As for Azon, who has struggled for form this season with only five goals in 32 league games, Ipswich still have George Hirst and even Chuba Akpom to guarantee that the Spaniard’s likely absence does not come as a major blow.

And, in light of Burns’ latest issue following his recovery from an ACL injury earlier in the season, 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, Sindre Walle Egeli, bound to be the envy of just about every manager in the division – even if it has caused more than a few headaches at Portman Road in recent times.

Nonetheless, McKenna will be grateful for the wealth of talent in his squad on occasions like this, and while he would prefer to have a clean bill of health for one of his side’s toughest tests against the old enemy, you have to wonder how badly they will be affected by the three potential absences.