Derby County host Nottingham Forest on Monday.
Derby County host fellow Championship promotion challengers Nottingham Forest on Monday night in what could be the most meaningful and important east Midlands derby in years.
The two clubs currently find themselves in the top seven and both have aspirations of promotion to the Premier League this season, which is a stark contrast to recent years where one side has always fallen short.
The last time both were gunning for promotion was back in 2013/14, where Derby’s 5-0 win over Forest at Pride Park prompted Billy Davies’s sacking as manager of the Reds and a consequent slide down the table.
This season it appears Forest are built on better foundations and they head to Derby having lost only three league games this season, though they do currently find themselves three points behind their rivals.
The Rams are going strong under new manager Frank Lampard and have won their last two league games, beating Swansea City 2-1 at Pride Park before claiming a 1-0 win at Wigan Athletic last time out.
It’s expected Derby will name an unchanged side to the one which beat the Latics, with midfielders Tom Huddlestone and Craig Bryson providing the experience having featured in this fixture numerous times.
Bryson netted a hat-trick in the 5-0 win back in 2014, and the Scotland international always seems to rise to the occasion when Forest come to town. His inclusion, however, would be bad news for Martyn Waghorn.
The £5 million summer signing has struggled to make an impact so far for Derby, and Bryson’s inclusion will no doubt see Harry Wilson pushed to an attacking wide role resulting in Waghorn missing out again.
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