Derby eye an early escape from the relegation zone as Cardiff travel to Pride Park

After just one win from their opening seven fixtures, the Rams must beat Cardiff tonight or face another week in the bottom three.

Phillip Cocu’s men will still have a sour taste in their mouth following their last encounter, a 1-1 draw with fierce rivals Nottingham Forest, as a questionable offside decision snatched all 3 points from their grip. 

Despite failing to win, encouraging signs were on show from the Rams that evening. It was an inspired performance from a side clearly playing for their manager. However, football is a results game and if results don’t come soon enough then it may be a different manager this side is playing under.

Cardiff are another team that perhaps fall into the ‘underperforming’ category so far this season. The Bluebirds sit 15th in the table with just two victories to their name, both of which have been away from home.

After being held to two consecutive home draws against Bournemouth and Middlesbrough respectively, Neil Harris will be hoping to see a little more from his side tonight as they enter the match as clear favourites. He’s beaten Derby in each of his last three meetings with the club.

Anything less than a win would certainly be frowned upon tonight by the Cardiff faithful, but Derby aren’t to be written off.

Team News

Derby will be working with the same squad that they had available for the Forest clash.

First team coach Liam Rosenior confirmed that Nathan Byrne was ‘fine’ and ‘trained’ after a knock and Friday, news that Cocu will welcome following Byrne’s very impressive start to the season. 

The Rams will have to wait at least one more match before captain Wayne Rooney is able to return. The former England international is still undergoing a period of self-isolation despite testing negative for COVID-19. He’s officially back with the team on Friday.

Jordan Ibe and Krystian Bielik both featured for Derby’s U23’s on Friday as the pair stepped up their return to first team football, it’s unlikely either will feature this evening though. 

Cardiff will be boosted by the possible return of Lee Tomlin for tonight’s clash, he’d missed the last two games due to a suspension and a groin injury.

The Bluebirds will be without new signing Filip Benkovic as the Leicester loanee is yet to work his way up to match fitness. He featured for the U23’s against Hull yesterday.

Jordi Osei-Tutu and Joe Bennett were both due to be assessed yesterday regarding whether or not they’d be fit to play, while Greg Cunningham is also out of contention for a few more weeks with a hamstring issue.

Liam Rosenior ahead of the Cardiff clash.

“[On the poor home record] You can’t look in the past, you have to look in the future. It’s a really difficult time for everyone.”

“Our home record last season was outstanding and we had 28,000 fans in. It goes to show how important supporters are.”

“I know Cardiff are a very, very good team at this level but if we perform at our levels we can win the game.”

“We know their strengths but I’m sure they know ours as well and they are in for a good game.”

Neil Harris also shared his thoughts.

“I think you won’t see a Derby team play similar to what they did a few months ago when they came to Cardiff City Stadium.”

“They’ve got good and important players back in the group. They’ve got attacking intent.”

“Results show we’ve been better away from home. But results across the football league show that. Preston have lost their home games, Derby have. It’s unheard of.”

“It’ll be a completely different game to the one against Middlesbrough the other evening.”