When John Eustace took over at Pride Park on 13th February the Rams looked to be in serious trouble, however, six wins and two draws across March and April was impressive form and was just enough to keep them up by a point on the final day of the season.

Derby have been active in the transfer window adding 11 players as they look to solidify themselves as a team that won’t get dragged into a relegation battle this time around.

That hasn’t been reflected in results on the pitch just yet with defeats to two of the league’s form teams, Stoke City and Coventry City, sandwiching a Carabao Cup penalty victory against West Bromwich Albion.

Last time out they claimed a respectable draw against Bristol City, despite a number of injury issues and will be looking to build on that performance here.

Goalkeepers

Jacob Widell Zetterstrom is the man currently with the gloves. The Swede signed from Djurgardens in August 2024 and kept 10 clean sheets in his first season in English football.

He did concede five against Coventry is a questionable performance where he was slow off his line for one goal and then punched the ball into an onrushing Coventry player and has currently conceded the second most goals in the league with nine, only surpassed by Joe Walsh, who conceded seven in one game against Coventry last weekend.

His back-up is Josh Vickers, who has largely spent his career in League One and Two at Lincoln, Rotherham and the Rams.

Third choice is 36-year-old Richard O’Donnell, who was at Blackpool last term.

Defenders

Defence is an area Derby have plenty of depth with Eustace currently option for a back four. At full-back you have Ryan Nyambe and Craig Forsyth, both of whom were with the club last season.

Nyambe has been there for a couple of seasons having previously played at Blackburn and Wigan, whereas 36-year-old Forsyth has been there since 2013 and has notched-up 383 appearances for the Rams. He showed no signs of slowing down last season with three goals and four assists.

Twenty-five-year-old Kane Wilson will provide competition on the right when he returns from injury but for now Joe Ward, who is very much third choice, might have a job to do, whilst former Town loanee Callum Elder and young Welsh wing-back Owen Beck will provide competition on the left.

The latter is embarking on his second Championship loan spell away from Liverpool having featured heavily for Blackburn last season. Elder is the man currently in possession of the shirt with Beck one of the many currently on the Rams’ treatment table.

At the heart of defence are two very experienced Championship campaigners, another of which also has history at Portman Road. Danny Batth has joined Eustace once more having looked good at Blackburn last season and has slotted in alongside ex-Town academy youngster Matt Clarke, who joined from Middlesbrough last January having put his injury issues behind him and become a regular starter once again.

Dion Sanderson who has joined on loan from Birmingham and is another player Eustace has history with having signed him on loan for Blackburn last season just before he left and has started the season shakily conceding a penalty against Coventry with a clumsy challenge whilst playing on the right side of a back three.

Curtis Nelson comes with 161 Championship appearances but is currently out injured. Young academy prospect Jake Rooney and Norwegian Sondre Klingen Langås, who arrived from the Eliteserien on deadline day of the most recent January transfer window, make up the rest of the squad.

Midfield

Derby set up in a bit of an old school 4-4-2 against Stoke but have since switched to a 3-5-2. On the right side for that first game was another former Town player.

Kayden Jackson was released following promotion to the Premier League but was always a reliable contributor when called upon having been converted from a striker to a right winger by Kieran McKenna.

The 30-year-old has continued to be trusted in that position at Derby, hitting 50 appearances for the club on the opening day of the season. In those 50 he’s contributed three goals and two assists, so not exactly prolific but as Town fans will know that wasn’t really his game.

On the other side was Corey Blackett-Taylor, who joined the Rams from Charlton in their promotion season to help get them over the line.

He missed a huge chunk of last season with a hamstring injury but had been prolific in pre-season with five goals and an assist which had earnt him a starting place.

He added an assist in the first game of the season but unfortunately those injury problems have reappeared in that match and he looks to miss another large period of football.

It was a pair of 23-year-olds in the middle on opening day with Kenzo Goudmijn partnering academy product Liam Thompson, who hasn’t looked back since breaking into the team in League One and now has 107 appearances for the club.

Ben Osborn provides a more experienced option either in the middle or the left and it’s a surprise that he wasn’t picked to start given he has 61 Premier League appearances to his name from his time at Sheffield United.

Bobby Clark was highly rated at Liverpool but was pushing for more regular football when he moved to RB Salzburg. He made 25 appearances for them last year across competitions but didn’t make as much as an impact as they’d have hoped for, which has seen him move on loan to the Rams this season. He scored midweek in the 2-1 cup defeat to Burnley with a well taken left-footed finish.

A more defensive option in there is David Ozoh, who has rejoined following a successful January loan from Crystal Palace and will look to provide a more combative edge alongside a player who has been linked to Town in Ebou Adams, who surprisingly started as a striker on opening day and then a more attacking midfielder against Coventry as Eustace throws mud at the wall hoping some of it sticks.

Adams is a midfielder in the destroyer mould and Town have been linked with him in this window likely due to the similarity in his profile to that of Sam Morsy and Azor Matusiwa.

He won 60% of his duels last season, averaging eight duel wins per game but wasn’t shy of a goal either, finding the back of the net six times. He’s netted already this season, against Coventry, with a nice finish just inside the edge of the box.

The final addition in that area came in this week in former Town loanee Lewis Travis, who will bring experience, grit and passion to that midfield. Like others in the squad he will know Eustace from their time at Blackburn. His arrival has raised further questions about the future of the aforementioned Adams.

Attackers

It was a front two against Coventry as Eustace had to switch things up given the number of injuries currently in his squad with Jackson partnering new signing Carlton Morris as the former Luton man looked to prove his worth with his second goal in two games, this one coming with a calm penalty from the spot.

He knows the league well and will be hoping to replicate his 2022/23 season with Luton where he scored 20 goals, having only found the net eight times last season as Luton got relegated. He added a third of the season against Bristol City to salvage the Rams’ first point of the season.

Derby have also added Rhian Brewster on a free transfer from Sheffield United. The former Liverpool youngster was one of the hottest prospects in football at one point in time, but injuries and fitness issues have really blighted his career. He’s failed to make the bench so far as he builds up fitness but got his first minutes of the season against Burnley in the Carabao Cup midweek.

Another new signing who is injured is Patrick Agyemang, who Derby spent a sizeable chunk of money to sign from Charlotte FC in the US only to require a hernia operation that has seen him miss the start of the season so far as he joins Norwegian forward Lars-Jorgen Salvesen on the treatment table as he still recovers from last season’s knee injury.

That’s given 19-year-old Dajaune Brown a chance for game time off the bench, however, the youngster didn’t impress to much in the opportunity he got from the start in the cup alongside another free transfer, Andi Weimann, who rejoined over the summer for his third spell with the Rams.

The 34-year-old is a handy squad filler who has lots of nous and experience and has a habit of scoring goals at important times.

The Teams

McKenna cited a lack of partnerships in the starting XI as a factor in the sometimes disjointed performance against Preston North End and it remains to be seen whether he’ll persist with combinations that don’t seem to be working too well or switch things up.

I think he’s likely to give it to the international break before wholesale changes, but I think Jens Cajuste could come in for Jack Taylor to freshen up the midfield for this one and there’s potential we could see more minutes for Ashley Young.

For Derby, Eustace is hamstrung by injuries but looks to have settled on a back five to get him through this. In front of those, Adams’s role has varied but a more standard midfield three looked to shore things up against the Robins, whilst having the experience of Weimann alongside Morris allowed some flexibility in the formation. New signing Travis could make his debut off the bench

Prediction

Two points from the first two games looked like a decent start given the opposition. Two points from three games now looks a lot less rosy. Town need to get three points on the board and soon.

They’ll be favourites for this one and I think they’ll have enough about them to get the job done. The goals aren’t coming (none from open play so far) but the Super Blues have created chances. Hopefully one or two players will find their shooting boots and we’ll see a comfortable win. I’m going for an optimistic 3-1.

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