Derby vs Fulham preview: Championship clash live on Sky Sports Football
Watch live on Sky Sports Football from 7pm; kick-off is at 7.45pm
Friday 21 February 2020 19:04, UK
Derby face Fulham in the Sky Bet Championship on Friday night, live on Sky Sports Football.
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Team news
Derby have lost midfielder Duane Holmes to injury. Holmes limped off during the first half of the 1-1 draw against Huddersfield last weekend with a leg injury and faces a few weeks on the sidelines.
Tom Huddlestone is still out with a calf injury but Andre Wisdom should be available after hamstring trouble. George Evans will continue his recovery from a calf problem with the Rams' U23s.
Promotion-chasing Fulham are looking to bounce back from the shock 3-0 home defeat by Barnsley. Alfie Mawson (knee), Terence Kongolo (foot) and Maxime Le Marchand (back) remain on the sidelines.
Harrison Reed could also miss out again with a calf problem. Striker Aleksandar Mitrovic has shown no ill-effects from his recent ankle injury having scored three goals in his last four matches.
Recent form
Fulham's recent run of good form came to an end in their last two games as they drew at Millwall and then were thumped 3-0 at home by Barnsley last Saturday.
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Derby have also failed to win in their last two games. Last time out they drew 1-1 at home with Huddersfield, which followed a 3-2 defeat at Bristol City three days earlier.
What the managers said...
Derby's Phillip Cocu:"It is an important game for us. We lost when we played the away game against Fulham back in November and I think it was one of those games where we didn't really give ourselves a chance to get a good result.
"Now we play at home at Pride Park and I think we are in a better place. We have a better shape and the confidence is better than when we played at Craven Cottage, so it is a test. If we can get a good result, we can confirm that we are on the right track."
Fulham's Scott Parker: ""We're disappointed and we're hurting from Barnsley, but we also need to be realistic and the challenge ahead of us is Derby on Friday night.
"That's the challenge we need to face, and we need to put in a big performance."
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Opta stats
Derby have lost their last two Championship matches against Fulham, losing 2-0 in the play-offs in May 2018 and 3-0 earlier this season.
Fulham have lost four of their last five away matches against Derby in the Championship (including play-offs), winning the other in March 2018.
Derby have lost just one of their last 15 home league games (W9 D5), with that defeat coming against Millwall back in December.
Fulham's 0-3 defeat against Barnsley last time out ended a six-game unbeaten run in the Championship for the Cottagers (W4 D2), conceding as many goals against the Tykes as they had in those previous six.
Derby's Wayne Rooney has scored nine goals in his last 12 appearances against Fulham in all competitions.
Prutton's prediction
Any hopes of Derby making a late run for the play-offs are getting slimmer and slimmer after failing to win their last two. One team often does it but I think the gap is just too big.
Fulham were desperately poor against Barnsley last week and that was a shocking result for a side chasing promotion. It will be interesting to see if Scott Parker sticks with Marek Rodak in goal, too. I fancy goals here, and a draw.
David Prutton predicts: 2-2 (12/1 with Sky Bet)
