Derby County host Stoke City in the Championship this afternoon.
Wayne Rooney’s Derby County side welcome a Stoke City who’ve started the season in fine form – the Potters sit in 5th-place of the Championship table having claimed 14 points from their opening seven games.
Derby meanwhile go into this game in 16th, having taken seven points from their opening seven games.
Rooney has a number of absentees for today’s game – Colin Kazim-Richards (Achilles) and Krystian Bielik (knee) remain the two long-term absentees for his side, with Craig Forsyth serving the last of a three-game suspension today and Festy Ebosele (knee) and Kornell McDonald (hamstring) both doubtful.
Predicted XI
Roos
Byrne
Davies
Jagielka
Buchanan
Williams
Knight
Shinnie
Morrison
Sibley
Baldock
It remains a near unchanged side from the one that claimed an impressive point at West Brom in midweek. Kelle Roos and Dylan Williams both impressed that evening, though Rooney might consider some rotational changes to keep his side fresh.
Ravel Morrison was an unused substitute v West Brom and so could be handed a start in that no.10 role today, pushing Louis Sibley into a more natural striking position in place of the often divisive Kamil Jozwiak.
For the Rams, going into this game and putting on a performance will mean so much to the fans.
The remainder of this season will be played under a cloud of just sheer uncertainty from a Derby County perspective and all that the players and Rooney can do is perform to the best of their abilities, week in week out.
Another tough test for Derby against a tricky Stoke City side today, but they held West Brom in midweek and if they can snatch a goal today, they might just pill off an upset.
