Two sides separated by a single point in the middle of the Championship table will do battle at Pride Park on Saturday, as Derby County welcome Hull City.
The teams each played out draws in midweek, leaving the hosts 12th on 14 points and the visitors 15th in a tight mid-table.
Match preview
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Derby County return to action on Saturday aiming to continue a pleasing start to their Championship campaign, having quickly adjusted to life back in England's second tier.
From their first 11 outings, the Rams have collected 14 points, having particularly excelled on home turf with all four of their victories coming from their five outings at Pride Park.
Having gone into the international break on the back of the most recent of those, a 2-0 triumph over Queens Park Rangers following three straight defeats, Paul Warne's side headed into consecutive away games on their return after losing each of their first four road fixtures, and they stopped that run against Millwall at the weekend.
The Rams eventually drew that game in disappointing fashion, despite an encouraging display, as Mihailo Ivanovic drew the hosts level at a goal apiece five minutes from time after Jerry Yates's opener, before most recently visiting fellow promoted side Oxford United on Tuesday and leaving with a share of the spoils in another 1-1 draw thanks to Nathaniel Mendez-Laing's 55th-minute equaliser.
Now returning to Derbyshire with the league's sixth-strongest home record, Derby County will aim to make it five wins from six league games at Pride Park to further strengthen their position in the top half of England's second tier on Saturday.
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Their visitors, meanwhile, make the trip at the weekend aiming to build on a relatively pleasing away record thus far in what has been a tricky start to the season under the new management of Tim Walter.
After missing out on the playoffs by the barest of margins last time around, the Tigers currently sit 15th in the Championship having earned 13 points from their first 11 matches.
Indeed, seven of those points have come from their five games on the road, including 3-1 triumphs away at Stoke City and Queens Park Rangers as part of a three-match winning run across September and October, only to suffer a 4-0 beating at Norwich City heading into the break.
Then returning to action on 12 points from nine outings, the Yorkshire outfit failed to correct their form at home to Sunderland on Sunday, suffering a 1-0 defeat following Wilson Isidor's goal on the hour mark, before most recently hosting playoff-chasing Burnley on Wednesday and taking a creditable point from a 1-1 draw, having gone ahead through Xavier Simons and been pegged back by a Zian Flemming leveller 13 minutes from time.
With plenty of positives to take from that improved result, Hull City now head back out on the road aiming to end their three-match wait for a fourth victory of the season with the chance to quickly climb through the mid-table pack into the top half.
Team News
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Derby County continue to deal with several injuries heading into Saturday's meeting, with key midfielder David Ozoh sidelined alongside Liam Thompson, Ryan Nyambe and Jake Rooney.
Paul Warne will field a similar starting XI from the midweek draw with Oxford United, with Ben Osborn, Ebou Adams and Kenzo Goudmijn again likely to line up in the midfield in Ozoh's absence.
Marcus Harness will compete to return in an attacking role, but Corey Blackett-Taylor and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing should again get the nod either side of front man Jerry Yates, while Curtis Nelson and Eiran Cashin will partner up at the heart of a back four.
Hull City should head to Pride Park without winger Liam Millar, who was forced off early on in their midweek draw with Burnley, while Dogukan Sinik, Ryan Longman, Marvin Mehlem and Finley Burns could all remain out of action.
Competition is still rife for attacking spots, though, with Chris Bedia, Abdulkadir Omur, Abu Kamara and Kasey Palmer all fighting to start after Millar, Joao Pedro and Bachir Belloumi were preferred on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, Oscar Zambrano could rejoin Regan Slater and Xavier Simons in the midfield, while summer signing Charlie Hughes will again get the nod alongside Alfie Jones at the heart of a back four.
Derby County possible starting lineup:
Zetterstrom; Wilson, Nelson, Cashin, Elder; Osborn, Ozoh, Goudmijn; Mendez-Laing, Yates, Blackett-Taylor
Hull City possible starting lineup:
Pandur; Coyle, Hughes, Jones, Drameh; Simons, Slater, Zambrano; Belloumi, Bedia, Kamara
We say: Derby County 2-1 Hull City
With Derby County having excelled at home so far this season and the visitors yet to truly click under Tim Walter, we back Derby County to earn another three points and continue their pleasing start to the term.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Sam Varley
