Derby County face Oxford United on Tuesday afternoon, looking to build on their impressive 3-0 victory away from home against Burton Albion on Saturday.
The Rams took an early lead through James Collins after he latched onto Conor Hourihane’s free-kick delivery to glance a header home, the latter then scored a goal of his own deep into the second half before Conor Washington rounded up the scoring a few minutes later.
It was the perfect way to bounce back from successive home defeats, against Wigan Athletic on the opening day and then Blackpool in the Carabao Cup, and Paul Warne will be hoping to seal his side’s first batch of Pride Park points this season when the U’s come to town.
Here is how we expect Derby to line up against Oxford tomorrow evening.
Defence
Retaining his number one spot is likely to be Joe Wildsmith. Josh Vickers had a run out in the cup against Blackpool and made a few very smart stops, but Wildsmith was back in net for the Burton fixture and kept out the Brewers to register his and the Rams’ first clean sheet of the campaign.
Occupying the wing-back roles, we expect Craig Forsyth and Joe Ward to keep their places. Forsyth has started both league fixtures in the left-wing-back position despite being used as a centre-back during last season and pre-season, though Callum Elder is another option and likely would have started the season in that role had he been fit. Ward has impressed in his appearances so far and is unlikely to be dropped.
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As for the centre-back spots, no surprise here, it is likely that Sonny Bradley, Eiran Cashin and Curtis Nelson will also retain their spots. If something is not broken, why fit it? The back five all contributed to the clean sheet on Saturday, so Warne is unlikely to shuffle.
Midfield
Hourihane, Korey Smith and Max Bird are all expected to start again in the midfield. The trio have started all three games together so far and Warne is expected to stick with his middle men once again on Tuesday.
It is a department that speaks for itself at present.
Attack
This is where we could maybe, just maybe, see some change. Collins opened his account on Saturday, as did Washington, with the former expected to start again against Oxford.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing partnered Collins up top, but struggled to make an impact playing out of his natural position. Martyn Waghorn accompanied Washington off the bench, both making a positive impact as they combined for the Rams’ third of the afternoon.
Now that he has his first goal in Derby colours and is seemingly match fit, Washington could get the nod over NML tomorrow.
Derby’s predicted XI vs Oxford: Wildsmith; Ward, Nelson, Bradley, Cashin, Forsyth; Bird, Smith, Hourihane; Collins, Washington.