Four Championship games to go and there are still lots of permutations – but whoever finishes third this season is going to look at it as a massive chance missed.

It will be Leicester, Leeds or Ipswich - can you imagine if Leicester finished third? What a downer they’d be on, having ‘won the league’ by Christmas.

Whoever you get in a play-off semi-final, it's going to be a tough, tough game, but I just can't help feeling that you might be better playing whoever finishes third because of the massive disappointment they will be feeling.

Look at Leeds – they were 15 points behind Leicester at the turn of the year. They then won 11 out of 12. Imagine if they finished third. Ipswich the same - before they came to Carrow Road last weekend they'd won nine out of 10.

There's still twists and turns to come in the last two or three weekends, but whoever finishes third will get that feeling, we’ve thrown this away.

In two of the last three years the team finishing third has gone up through the play-offs - I do think this year will be different because of the scenario that the top three have been head and shoulders above the rest.

This has repercussion on Norwich of course – and while I think they will finish top-six, it is not cut and dried by any means.

Norwich started the year 13th, five points outside the play-offs. They are one of the form teams and I don't think the top six changes now.

In January, had you said to any Norwich fan ‘I'll give you sixth place right now’, they’d have snapped your hand off. Whether it's sixth or fifth - do you want to play Southampton the way they play, the way they keep the ball? They can be really, really dangerous. They had that incredible 25-game unbeaten run midway through the season.

I’m also not ruling out fifth place for Norwich. I know West Brom have got to go to Leicester, which at the minute you just don't know what you're going to get. But let's not kid ourselves, a play-off place isn't guaranteed yet, there is still work to be done.

The next one for Norwich is Preston and that's massive. They’ve won their last two at home, scored seven goals in doing so, came back from behind against Huddersfield, which you would expect them to. They have also beaten Leeds and Ipswich at Deepdale – so they have beaten two of the top three up there.

Before kick-off on Saturday, Ipswich at home, Sheffield Wednesday away – six points would have been great, but had you offered me four from both, I would have taken it.

Of course, you might have expected it come the other way around - maybe a point against that lot from down the road on Saturday and going to Hillsborough for a win.

But this division is absolutely mad - never ever bet on the Championship. But you get the feeling that two points were thrown away by Norwich on Tuesday.

There's a big difference between the gap of seven points and what we have now, five points, with four games to go. They gave themselves that little bit of a buffer - if you do mess up, it's not the end of the world, you still have a good little cushion with a couple of games to go.

But most teams have something to fight for. After Preston, City have home games against Bristol City and Swansea before they end at Birmingham.

Birmingham could be down by the time Norwich go there, but if they’re not St Andrew’s will be rocking.

I would expect six points from the two home games. Swansea have been awful and they still have relegation worries.

I don't think you're going to get 12 more points. I’d be happy enough with a draw at Preston.

People have said we need to win one of the remaining two away games - I'm not so sure. I think if you can get seven points from those last 12 available that should guarantee a play-off position. The other teams in the mix aren’t going to win every game, they're going to drop points in the run-in. But it's vital you keep the momentum you have got with those two games at home.

Can you imagine going into a play-off semi-final at home having won 10 on the spin down there. That’s a massive ask for whoever comes down here - whether it's Southampton, whether it's Ipswich, they know it would be one hell of a test.

 

Four-ce field!

I was working at Colchester for the second time in eight days, so I set off really early. I wanted to get there, get parked up, get in the stadium, get all set up because I was on my own.

Going down the A140 it was a clear road going southbound, but northbound… traffic chaos. I passed the team bus around Long Stratton way, around 9.30am, so they've got here quite early.

Anyway, I think it's fair to say they weren't as lively going back as they were coming up the A140! You talk about teams, and there's been a lot said this season about Ipswich, they've done a lot of talking and to be fair they've backed it up nine times out of 10. They didn’t back it up on Saturday.

Their fans couldn't wait for these two derbies this season because they saw it as the best opportunity that they've had to beat Norwich in so many years

But it was as one-sided a game on Saturday that I've seen in the East Anglian derby for a long, long time. Norwich totally controlled the game. I know it was only 1-0 but it was as comfortable and one-sided 1-0 I've seen for a long, long time. Norwich were in cruise control. They weren't asked to go into top gear, they didn't need to go into top gear and for all the performances that I've seen from Ipswich and the energy and the intensity that 99 times out of 100 they always bring, they didn't bring it on Saturday and they got what they deserved.

It was a non-event really. The lads were absolutely magnificent and I said last week, people say there's no pressure on Ipswich … there is massive pressure on them. Norwich went out there without a care in the world really and I think that comes from making Carrow Road a fortress and going out there with that expectancy to win the game, which is what they did.

I am gutted I wasn't there, but apparently the atmosphere was unbelievable.

People compared it to the Manchester City game when Norwich won 3-2 - I was there that day and I've said it - since 1997 since I've been involved with the club and having played for seven years, that's the best atmosphere I've ever witnessed at the place, so it must have been special.

Can you imagine if Ipswich miss out on automatic promotions by four points - the four points that Norwich have taken off them this season.