But the Tractorboys’ boss insists there isn’t much difference between City under Philippe Clement and the Liam Manning version which surrendered meekly at Portman Road in October, a result which helped bring his short reign to an end.
McKenna became the first Ipswich manager to win a derby in 16 years and hostilities resume with his team in the Championship’s second automatic promotion place against a City side unrivalled since the turn of the year.
So are Norwich a different proposition than in October?
“In some ways, yes, in some ways, no,” said McKenna at his pre-match media briefing on Thursday. “It’s clear, obviously, that the manager has gone in and done a really good job and they’ve picked up excellent results. Over a good period of time now, they’ve been one of the best teams in the division.
“But they weren’t a very bad team at the start of the season, if I’m honest. Liam didn’t get the results at the start of the season and didn’t get the momentum, but that can happen in this division. They lost lots of tight games on fine margins.
“In the end, they didn’t start the season well enough so they made a change, but it’s not like they were a bad team at that point. Tactically, when you look at them, of course, they’re doing some things well, but there’s a lot of things the same as well from when we played them early in the season, a lot of the same principles, of course.
“We know it’s going to be really, really tough. They’re a good team. They’re in good form and always going away to your fiercest rivals in an away game is going to be really tough. So we don’t take it lightly, but we believe the opportunity is there for us.”
While Town are on course for an immediate return to the top flight, McKenna knows local rivalry and bragging rights are also at the forefront of everyone’s minds.
“It’s two fan bases who are really passionate about their club,” said McKenna, bidding to end a 20-year wait for a win in Norfolk.
“We get fantastic support at Portman Road and when we go there.
“We’re delighted to have broken the record that stood for too long with a game earlier in the season. But now we know we’ve got another fantastic opportunity.
“It’s going to be tough, but a fantastic opportunity to go and try and win at their stadium, which would be brilliant for the club. So we’re all, of course, really, really motivated to try and do that on Saturday.”