Derby boss Paul Warne has hailed the Blues as a blueprint for League One ahead of Town’s trip to Pride Park tomorrow.
Kieran McKenna’s side go into the match looking for their seventh win on the spin, something Town haven’t achieved since 1989, while aiming to extend their clean sheet record to eight matches and beyond 686 minutes.
"They've gone six wins on the spin without conceding,” Warne told his club's official website. "They score a set-piece goal every two games and if you get that right, you're always going to be in the top six. Virtually every team that gets promoted seems to be the best at set-pieces.
"They recruited well in January and they've got choices of players all over the park. They like to play out from the back, they are in very good form and there's not much more I can say about them. They are one of the leaders and blueprints for the league.”
Warne, a Norwich supporter who had a very good record against Town as Rotherham boss, says his team will need their fans behind them tomorrow with the Rams having been in disappointing form.
Since going on a run of six league wins in a row in January and February, Derby have gone through an inconsistent period, winning four, drawing two and losing five.
They have won only one of their last five games, losing three, including the last two, both 2-0, at home to Fleetwood and at Peterborough last week.
"Our best version I'd back beating anyone at Pride Park but tomorrow is a bit of a strange one as we're normally roaring favourites,” Warne added. "I'm not saying we're the underdogs but we are normally overwhelming favourites, even away from home.
"We need everyone pulling in the right direction tomorrow. We need the fans to cheer everything because they are playing against a very good team. The performance and result is important for the games remaining.
"Our season won't be fully focused on tomorrow but I do know how much this one game could count as a mood swing, as a confident booster or a confidence ruiner - it could go either way.
"We've taken a lot of care in the team selection and at 5pm tomorrow I could look like Where's Wally or a genius. We've tried to pick the most aggressive team as always and the lads have trained excellent as they have all week.”
Derby will be without on-loan Norwich winger Tony Springett, who suffered an ankle injury when colliding with defender Eiran Cashin in training.