Derby County's third league game in seven days sees them entertain ex Premier League side Fulham.

Derby have no new injury concerns as they monitor and nurse Jake Buxton through his hip flexor problem. The main talking point and debate still concerns McClaren’s team selection.

The same questions asked before Tuesday's defeat to Charlton have reared their head again with regard to the defence, the CDM role and who should play wide. Rightly or wrongly, McClaren gave the same players the opportunity against Charlton, despite an inconsistent 90 minute performance versus Sheffield Wednesday last Saturday.

Managers do like to keep faith and confidence within players, which is understandable. It did seem to backfire on Tuesday night, although The Rams were pushing to take the lead after an excellent equaliser from Ward, after a brilliant 'dummy' by Bryson. That said, in the end, Derby conceded three goals and lost.

The thing I find strange is how Mascarell has jumped in front of Eustace for the CDM role. Eustace is able to read the game. He is often there as the ball arrives. This usually comes through years of experience. Something Hughes and Mascarell do not yet have.

I accept he is not quite as good on the ball as Hughes and Mascarell, but he reads the game, organisers others and leads. From the stands, Keogh and sometimes Grant seem to be the only players who are pointing, organising and communicating. This is invaluable when things are not quite going right.

The current midfield three are not quite clicking and there is not the flow that there was for the majority of last season. I do accept it is early days, but they played together at times last season and it did not work then either, so why force it.

Last season Buxton, Forsyth, Keogh, Bryson and Martin were arguably playing to their maximum and had possibly the best season of their careers. That has brought them to the attention of opposition players and managers and they have yet to perform to the same level of last season.

Are they able to continue to play to this level every week and even go on and improve again? I am not sure the defenders can. In addition to this, we have swapped a very good premier league defender (Wisdom) for a league one defender (Christie), so maybe we can see why the defence is looking a little shakier this season.

Going forward, neither Thorne nor Eustace have played yet and we miss Bamford's impact and goals from the bench. I only wish it was he one on one with Westwood against The Owls last Saturday. We would have won 1-0.

Therefore, it could be argued the squad are currently weaker than last season. That is why I find it very odd that the national media and some fans have labelled Derby promotion favourites.

I say again, I would be happy with a top 6 finish. Most of the summer signings have been for the future and development. Something which became infuriating under Clough.

I imagine McClaren will make at least one change and probably two to tomorrow's starting line up. I see Russell coming in for Dawkins and Ward moving over to the left, and either Mascarell or Eustace starting for the slightly unlucky Hughes. Recent substitutions would point to Mascarell but putting Eustace in - would do no harm for reasons stated earlier.

Despite The Rams worries - Fulham have had a far worse start to their Championship campaign. They have had to sell and then bring in a number of players and it does take time for ex Premier League teams to settle into the Championship. The have played three and lost three although reports suggest games have been tight.

Dembelle and Rodallega will be pushing for starts after coming on as substitutes against Wolves, a game in which they lost 1-0. Under pressure manager Felix Magath will again be without new signing and World Cup player Adam Taggart. The Australian striker has not featured yet this season and will miss the trip to the iPro Stadium due to a back problem.

Despite their results, Fulham do have the experience and class of Scott Parker in midfield and although he went for a very large sum, Ross McCormack is a very good player at championship level.

Fulham pose a threat, but hopefully Derby will 'click' and play better in front of a large crowd.

With this in mind I am going to go for a Derby 2-1 home win.

Enjoy the bank holiday weekend!

Current Form / Stats:

Derby (14th) - W, D, L: Lost their first game of the season away to Charlton on Tuesday.

The Rams have won 7 of their last 8 matches at the iPro

Fulham (23rd ) - L, L , L: Are yet to claim any points this season after 3 losses.

Fulham have not been defeated by The Rams in their last 8 encounters with the last 4 matches ending as draws.

Match Preview - McClaren & Christie:

Classic Clash: Derby 1 vs. 0 Fulham:

Division 2 - 14th May 1983

The Baseball Ground

COYR!!

Photo: Action Images

Rochdale Polls