Derby County may be handed a major injury boost ahead of tomorrow’s game.
According to Derbyshire Live journalist Leigh Curtis, the Rams could welcome Korey Smith back for their meeting with Fleetwood Town.
The midfielder has been a regular under Paul Warne this season starting 15 of their 18 games in the Championship.
However, Smith was left out of the match-day squad completely for their trip to Port Vale last week due to injury and was replaced by Tyrese Fornah in the starting line-up.
The 32-year-old has now had a week to recover, and Leigh Curtis has claimed that he could now be available.
He said: “Korey Smith missed Tuesday night because of a knee injury, but I don’t think that’s serious, so I would expect him to be back for the Fleetwood game.”
Derby County will host Fleetwood Town in the second round of the EFL Trophy tomorrow evening after finishing top of Group G with three wins from three.
Korey Smith is a big boost to Paul Warne‘s side, though the midfielder could be benched anyway.
Smith has only started one of Derby’s three EFL Trophy games so far and wasn’t even included in the squad for the win over Wolves U21s last month.
With a trip to Leyton Orient in the league approaching at the weekend, the Rams could once again feature a weakened team in the competition as they remain one of the hot favourites to lift the trophy in April.
Can Derby County find success in the EFL Trophy?
Derby County definitely need to to focus on getting promoted this season, but a piece of silverware would do brilliantly for their confidence going into the final run of matches.
The Midlands outfit haven’t added to their trophy cabinet since they won the Championship play-offs in 2007.
Derby shouldn’t write Fleetwood off though, with the clubs sharing the spoils in their previous meetings.
The two sides have only actually faced each other three times in their history, with the first coming last August.
The match ended 0-0, before the Rams suffered a 2-0 defeat at Pride Park in March of this year.
They have already met once this season, with Derby claiming revenge in a 1-0 victory on home soil.
Hopefully they can take the edge over their opponents tomorrow, while also giving a number of young and out of favour players a chance to impress.