Opinion

Derby County predicted XI vs Crewe: Changes could be scarce

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Derby County kick off their FA Cup campaign when they head away to League Two side Crewe Alexandra on Sunday afternoon.

Both sides enter at the first round stage along with all the other sides in League One and League Two.

Derby are coming off the back of a 4-0 thrashing of Northampton Town on Tuesday night, with a brace from Max Bird and goals from Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Conor Washington sealing all three points.

Crewe meanwhile have won three of their last four games, and sit in fifth place in League Two as they look for a return to the third tier.

Both sides will be hoping to kickstart a nice cup run in the hopes of getting a tie against a big Premier League side in the third round.

Who is out for Derby?

Derby County v Northampton Town - Sky Bet League One
Photo by Jon Hobley/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Derby will be without the likes of Tyreece John-Jules, Liam Thompson and Jake Rooney, who are all definitively ruled out on the sidelines.

Striker Martyn Waghorn is still recovering from a minor hamstring issue, whilst Eiran Cashin will be available once again after serving his one game suspension on Tuesday night.

Warne has said in his pre-match press conference that he will not hold back from playing a strong team on Sunday.

“I am telling you now I will go as strong as I want and then make as many changes as I can for the game on Wednesday (v Wolves) but still be competitive.

“I don’t think if all of a sudden if I make changes here and there we become a lot weaker, but I don’t really need a lot to play Wednesday when we’ve got the biggest game of the season at home so far on Saturday.”

The likes of Joe Ward could start after coming off of the bench in the last two games following his recovery from a knee injury. The like of Callum Elder could also make a return to the squad after a hernia injury.

But with Cashin also returning, we could see the likes of Sonny Bradley dropped.

Josh Vickers could also come in for Joe Wildsmith in the Rams net as it is a cup game, so the goalkeeping position might be one Warne would like to rotate.

Here is how we think Derby will line up against Crewe:

Vickers (GK)

Ward

Cashin

Nelson

Forsyth

Hourihane

Smith

Barkhuizen

Bird

Mendez-Laing

Washington

The Rams game will kick off 14:45pm on Sunday afternoon.