Derby County fans have been impressed with Fulham’s Tom Cairney and Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish this season.
A large majority of Derby County supporters participating in an online poll say they would hypothetically prefer to have Fulham’s Tom Cairney in their starting XI instead of Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish.
The Rams are currently in the playoff positions alongside both Villa and Fulham, but their recent poor form has seen them drop out of the automatic promotion race and looking nervously over their shoulder.
Derby have by all means overachieved this season, but their main problem lies with a lack of creativity.
Matej Vydra is the Championship’s top goal scorer with 17 goals, but besides the Czech international, the Rams struggle for goals and the January departure of winger Johnny Russell has evidently had an effect.
Villa and Fulham, in contrast, have creativity and goals flowing throughout their team and in Grealish and Cairney, the two promotion challengers have players who can make all the difference when it matters.
Derby fans have been impressed with both players this season but following Cairney’s dynamic display against the Rams last Saturday, a large majority would rather have the Scotland international in their starting XI.
As shown by the online poll conducted via Twitter, 86% of Derby fans polled rate Cairney higher.
The Cottagers midfielder was heavily linked with a move to the Premier League during the January transfer window and judging by his recent performances you can certainly see why.
| Team | Goals | Assists | Chances created per game | Dribbles per game | Total Passes per game | Ball Recoveries per game | Appearances | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Cairney | Fulham | 1 | 3 | 1.78 | 2.48 | 76.09 | 6.09 | 23 |
| Jack Grealish | Aston Villa | 1 | 4 | 1.67 | 1.6 | 34.33 | 5.33 | 15 |
As demonstrated by the table provided by Opta, Cairney outperforms Grealish in a number of key areas such as key passes, successful dribbles and ball recoveries per Championship fixture.
The 27-year-old has been a key player during Slavisa Jokanovic’s side’s excellent recent run, winning eight of their last 10 league games, and he is exactly the sort of player Derby sorely miss in their midfield.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
