Derby County vs Burton Albion. Sky Bet Championship.
Pride Park StadiumAttendance26,761.
Friday 1 December 2017 13:00, UK
Derby will check on the fitness of Sam Winnall and Bradley Johnson ahead of the visit of neighbours Burton.
On-loan striker Winnall is trying to shake off an ankle injury while midfielder Johnson damaged a hamstring in the goalless draw at Fulham. Both players have missed the last three matches but Rams boss Gary Rowett hopes that at last one of them will be able to train this week and put themselves back in contention.
Rowett has hinted at changing his starting line up for the first time in four matches on Saturday following the home defeat to Ipswich, after which he felt his front four looked tired. George Thorne, Johnny Russell and Chris Martin all came on as substitutes in midweek and the trio will be pushing strongly for starting places against Burton.
Former Derby defender Jake Buxton is back in contention to face his old club but the Brewers have injury problems elsewhere. Buxton, a Ram between 2009 and 2016, has missed the last two matches with a muscle problem although Burton boss Nigel Clough will manage his return ahead of the forthcoming hectic festive schedule.
John Brayford, another ex-Derby player, Lloyd Dyer, Sean Scannell and Will Miller are all doubts with hamstring issues. Burton-born midfielder Ben Fox, 19, could be included in the squad at Pride Park Stadium following his recent return from a loan spell at Tamworth.
Derby's only previous league meetings against Burton came last season in the Championship - they drew one and lost one without scoring.
Nigel Clough managed 213 league matches for Derby between 2009 and 2013, winning 72 of those games at a ratio of 34%.
Derby haven't lost any of their last 15 league matches in December (W9 D6) since a 2-0 defeat at Middlesbrough in 2014.
As well as Clough managing Derby, his opposite number Gary Rowett also managed Burton in the Football League, leading them to the League Two play-off final in 2014 where they lost to Fleetwood.
The Rams haven't lost back to back home Championship matches since September last year, a run of three consecutive defeats.
Burton are one of two Championship clubs this season yet to see a player score more than twice for them, along with Birmingham - Lloyd Dyer, Ben Turner and Marvin Sordell all have two goals.
