G.M's Match Preview: Rams Must Get Over Owls To Continue Promotion Push
Tuesday, 18th Feb 2014 12:49 by George Martin

Derby travel to meet an in form Sheffield Wednesday team in what will hopefully be an entertaining fixture. Buoyed by a superb victory over QPR, Derby will look to consolidate a play off place and push on towards the automatic places.

Derby fans were hoping The Owls would have played in the F.A Cup on Saturday, but their game was cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch. Therefore both team will be pretty fresh and injury free, although Dawkins will again miss out for Derby with an ongoing groin problem.

Also for Derby, Will Hughes and Jamie Ward are both fit to start, so I imagine Derby will be unchanged, but after some bright substitute appearances, Johnny Russell will be pushing for a start.

Sheffield Wednesday new boys Adedeji Oshilaja and Sam Hutchinson, plus fit-again Glenn Loovens are all in contention for tonight’s game against Derby. Benik Afobe had already added to the forward strength, Leon Best has come in as well with Michail Antonio is knocking on the door, while Gary Gardner may make a midfield debut tonight.

It will be a different proposition to the team Derby faced a few months ago when I thought Wednesday were one of the poorest teams I had seen all season. Thankfully for the Rams, the in form Connor Wickham has gone back to his parent club but Leon Best is a decent player at this level and Chris McGuire has found the net a couple of times in recent games.

Derby need to make sure they dominate in midfield and get the ball out wide nice an early with quick passing. This will give Bamford and Ward the chance to get one on one with their full back and cause the home side defence problems. Hopefully the pitch and conditions will allow Derby's passing game to take over.

Buxton and Keogh need to be fully focused and on their toes at the back and after his best defensive display of the season against QPR, Forsyth will be looking to continue his good form, especially with talks of a Scotland call up on the horizon.

If Sheffield Wednesday had not picked up belief and confidence in the past 8 games I would have gone for a comfortable Derby victory. This will be a tough fixture but hopefully our forward play will be too much for them to handle.

If we can manage another clean sheet then I can see three points making their way south back down the M1!

Enjoy the game and the atmosphere.

Sing up for the mighty Rams!

Current Form — Last 5 League Matches:

Sheff Wed (17th): D, D, W, W, L

Derby (4th): W, D, W, D, 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 8 matches during which time they only managed 1. That goal was the winner against QPR last week and hopefully it has broken the drought permanently.

Steve McClaren has collected a whopping 43 points of a possible 57 points since arriving at the Rams.

The Rams have the highest goals ‘for’ in the Championship with 58.

Derby is unbeaten in their 5 league matches including 2 draws and 3 wins.

Sheffield Wednesday has not won against the Rams in their last 9 encounters.

In their last 12 matches The Owls have only lost once which was their last home game when they were defeated 3-0 by Wigan. We can only hope it’s a trend that continues.