Match Preview: Derby County

PRIDE PARK | 21ST FEBRUARY 2020 | 19:45

Image: Mapio.net

Our Focus turns to Friday nights clash with Derby County at Pride Park. The Rams’ faithful have witnessed a split personality from their side this season. Dr.Jekyll at home and Mr.Hyde away. 9 of their 11 league wins so far have come at Pride Park with a perfect split of 11 wins, 11 draws and 11 defeats demonstrating Cocu’s sides inconsistency. Meanwhile, Fulham have been consistently inconsistent wherever they play and after last weekends ‘Wind in the Willows’ fiasco at the Cottage, we really do need to stop playing Dodgeball and show the Sky viewers the quality that we have at our disposal.

It won’t be easy up there but it generally depends how hard Parker’s side wants to make it for themselves…

Head To Head

  • Fulham Wins 21 | Draws 20 | Derby Wins 23.
  • The clubs have never met in the bottom two divisions.
  • Fulham have played at Pride Park 8 times. Our record reads Won 2 | Drawn 2 | Lost 4.
  • The only Fulham players to score at Pride Park for the Whites are Collins John, Dio Kamara, Scott Parker, Floyd Ayite, Ryan Sessegnon and Aleksander Mitrović. Our other two goals came from own goals.
  • We have scored in 11 of our last 13 against the Rams.
  • Fulham have won 3 of the last 4.

Derby County League Info 2019/20

  • Position: 13th.
  • Form: DLWWL.
  • Scored: 41.
  • Conceded: 45.
  • Top Scorers: Martyn Waghorn (11), Chris Martin (8), Tom Lawrence (7).
  • Form Table (Last 6 Matches): 7th (10pts).
  • Average Possession: 51.9%
  • Discipline: 68 Yellows | 3 Reds.
  • Clean sheets: 7 (all at home).
  • Both teams have scored in 19 of their 33 league games so far this season.

Players in Common

Image: Clive Rose/Getty

Chris Baird

Fulham: 172 apps, 4 goals (2007-2013 & 2016).

Derby County: 76 apps (2015-2018).

Chris Baird, Giles Barnes, Darren Bent, Cyrus Christie, Steve Hayward, Shefki Kuqi, Dean Leacock, Eddie Lewis, Scott Malone, Chris Martin, Richard Money, Paul Parker, Mark Pembridge, Paul Peschisolido, Ben Pringle, Mark Stallard, Fredrik Stoor & Paul Trollope.

Sam’s View – @SamCole2468

Looking at our fixtures a few weeks ago I would have identified this game as quite a routine win but following our previous result I am very worried. 32Red FC, also known as Derby County, have seen a slight improvement in results since the controversial arrival of Wayne Rooney which has seen them climb the table. This game could be one of our most important in recent times as we enter the make or break time in our season. With games against high flying Brentford and Leeds on the horizon 3 points is crucial.

I think we need to make three changes to the side that lost to Barnsley. The first change I would make is at right back bringing Odoi back in for Sess. It’s not that Sess was not particularly poor against Barnsley I just think that Odoi is more of a complete full back with more experience. The second change is bringing Decordova-Reid back into the midfield for Cairney. It looks like our captain is a bit fatigued so giving him a rest before the big games could help him recapture his form. The final change I would make is brining in Kebano for Cavaleiro. Recently Cav has been very poor, and I think that his spectacular goals brush over very average performances. Kebano in my opinion is a very underrated player and in his few sub appearances has looked bright so deserves a start. These players would be playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Kebano on the left, Knockaert on the right and Decordova-Reid behind Mitro.

Having never won when I have predicted a win I am going to use some reverse phycology and say that we will lose 2-1 and hope this doesn’t come true.