G.M's MatchDay Preview: Top Two Awaits If Rams Can Spill Claret
Saturday, 1st Mar 2014 07:33 by George Martin

Derby faces a 'good' selection dilemma on their travels to Turf Moor today. Jamie Ward and Craig Bryson are now fit for selection, giving the coaching staff decisions to make about their starting line up.

Ward defends better than Russell but Russell has played really well in the past few games. Bamford has been poor against Sheffield Wednesday and Bournemouth but Dawkins was superb when he came on against Bournemouth. Hendrick has also done well in place of Bryson for the last two games but Bryson has more energy and makes third man runs into the box to score goals.

Everyone will have their own opinion of what should happen and who should start. I think Russell will keep his place, Dawkins will start on the left instead of Bamford and Bryson will come in for Hendrick. That will leave Ward, Bamford and Hendrick on a very solid bench.

The pitch is likely to be sticky and the wind likely to be swirling. Both conditions will play into the home team’s advantage. Burnley is very solid at the back and concedes few goals, especially at home. Their full backs like to get forward (look out for Trippier) into the opponents half and push back the oppositions wingers.

Ex Ram Dave Jones will pull the strings in midfield and all fans will know and have seen that Vokes and Ings score goals for fun. When Burnley visited the then Pride Park Stadium, near the start of the season, what struck me was their organisation and discipline. All their players knew what to do, when to do it and how to do it. They won 3-0 and Clough seemed out of his depth, again.

I feel Derby is going to be up against it for most of the afternoon with The Clarets unbeaten in their last 10 games in the Championship, winning five. Their last league defeat was 1-0 at Middlesbrough on Boxing Day and they have conceded only 26 league goals in total this season.

It has been nearly 10 years since Derby actually won at Turf Moor and to make the task even harder, Burnley are the only team in the Championship yet to lose at home this season. As recently as last weekend, they demolished world beaters Notts Forest 3-1. Smiley face! Apparently it should have been five at half time, not three.

However, this is easily one of the best, most attacking teams Derby has fielded in the past seven seasons. At the other end of the field, it has also been encouraging that in the last three games, some of the defending has been resolute and a joy to watch, resulting in a hat-trick of clean sheets.

Derby has matured and in some areas, definitely become better over the past five games. I think this has been proved in victories against QPR, Sheffield Wednesday and Bournemouth. All games we have won, but won in different ways, compared to when McClaren started.

If Derby are to break The Clarets unbeaten home record, then this will be their best chance.

Derby will probably stick with the tried and tested 4-3-2-1 but I would not be shocked if we once again changed to 4-4-2 should things not be going the right way.

With tickets on sale on the day, over 2,500 Rams fans will cheer the players on all the way. Hopefully this will have a positive affect on the players as they push for victory but I would take a draw if offered it now.

Drummer boy, bang that drum!

Current Form — Last 5 League Matches:

Burnley (2nd): D, W, W, D, W

Derby (3rd): W, D, W, W, W

The Stats That Matter:

The Rams were proving to be quick starters this season with 25 of their goal tally coming in the first 45 minutes of matches up until their last 10 matches during which time they have only managed 1.

Steve McClaren has collected a whopping 49 points of a possible 63 points since arriving at the Rams.

The Rams have the highest goals ‘for’ in the Championship with 60.

Derby is unbeaten in their last 7 league matches including 2 draws and 5 wins.

Burnley are clearly a bogey side for the Rams, not having won in this fixture over the past 9 meetings.

Turf Moor has been quite a miserable place to visit if you are a Ram, Derby has just 1 win to their name in the last 11 visits.

Derby stands as the division’s second best away side with 31 points from 16 outings on the road.

The Clarets are undefeated on home soil this season and are second in the home table with 36 points from 16 games.

The form table has the Rams in second and the Clarets in fourth.

A win in the fixture would see Derby go second, a draw would see Derby remain 2 points behind Burnley and a defeat for the Rams would raise the gap to 5 points.

Between them Burnley strike partnership Danny Ings and Sam Vokes have scored 34 goals.

Derby’s last victory over the Lancashire side was at Pride Park in January 2007. Steve Howard scored to extend the club’s lead to 6 points at the top of the Championship on a night when Billy Davies was sent to the stands.

Sean Dyche’s side have an impressive record against top 6 sides at Turf Moor; Forest, QPR and Reading have all lost there, while leaders Leicester are yet to visit.

The second-placed side have played 6 matches against fellow top 6 sides; they are undefeated in all of those matches with 3 wins and 3 draws. Meanwhile the third-placed side have also played 6 matches against their top 6 counterparts, but have won just 1 and lost a disappointing 5.

Lee Grant is a notable player to have played for both sides due to his switch in the summer. He made over 100 appearances for the Clarets, including every single league match last season, and since joining DCFC he has 8 clean sheets to his name having played every single league game so far this campaign.