Ahead of their League One clash against Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday, Paul Warne has supplied an update on four of his injured Derby County players.
Derby enter this contest with the bit between their teeth.
The Rams have won five consecutive matches in League One, pushing them closer to the automatic promotion places, with only three points separating them from second-place Bolton Wanderers.
Paul Warne’s side are entering a testing winter period that could see them strengthen their promotion ambitions or falter under the weight of their hectic winter schedule.
With seven league matches to come in the space of a month, the Derby boss needs a fully fit squad at his disposal to successfully navigate through this busy Christmas calendar.
Fortunately, in his pre-match press conference, Warne dropped an update on the first-team players currently sidelined through injury.
Paul Warne issues a positive injury update
Three of Warne’s players have returned to training this week, however, the Wycombe will come too soon for the team.
One of his other players is scheduled to return next week while the longer-term absentees will continue to miss out.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, he said: “Liam Thompson and Callum Elder have trained this week,
“Both have been out for a long period of time so training for one or two days is possibly not enough to have them available at the weekend.
“Darren Robinson is back in training and Ryan Nyambe will join in with the lads next week and then we’ve just got the longer-term ones whom we won’t see until the New Year.”
In terms of having defenders Liam Thompson and Callum Elder back in training, it’s positive news for Derby on that front, especially with a hectic schedule coming up.
Thompson had been sidelined with a hamstring strain since late August while Elder only started twice at the start of the campaign before suffering a lengthy spell on the injury table.
Derby welcoming back key players at the right time
It’s the most wonderful time of the year but also the busiest in the football calendar and Warne will be pleased to see some of his first-team stars make a successful recovery from injury.
With only six points separating second place Bolton from Blackpool in eighth, the league table is tightly congested, but if Derby can keep up their current relentless consistency, they have every chance of breaking into the automatic promotion places.
The Rams have already coped well with injuries and have seen the likes of Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Louie Sibley shine in recent weeks, so there is no doubt that Warne’s troops possess the ammunition to fire themselves into the Championship.