Derby County travel to Northampton Town this afternoon and Paul Warne may be forced into reshuffling his pack.
Derby County went one step closer to achieving automatic promotion last weekend. A 1-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers, thanks to a Kane Wilson header, extended their lead over the Trotters to four points.
When Paul Warne‘s men travel to Northampton Town this afternoon, they are looking to make it five consecutive wins on the bounce.
During their recent purple patch, striker Dwight Gayle has been in immense form, scoring in three of their last four matches.
The 34-year-old will miss this clash after picking up a hamstring issue against Bolton, and while that is a huge blow to Warne, he does have Conor Washington back in the squad following injury.
There are also concerns surrounding the fitness of Joe Ward and Tom Barkhuizen after they picked up knocks last weekend.
With five players certain to miss out, including top scorer James Collins, here’s how Derby could line up this afternoon.
Derby County predicted XI v Northampton
After keeping clean sheets in three of his last four, Derby fans are calling for the club to renew Joe Wildsmith’s contract in the summer. The former Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper made multiple outstanding saves to keep Bolton at bay last time out.
The long-serving Craig Forsyth replaced Sonny Bradley in that match and started in the centre of a back-three alongside the ever-present Eiran Cashin and Curtis Nelson. He was praised for his “excellent” display, with Warne expected to remain unchanged in defence.
Wing-back Ward has hit a rich vein of form as of late. However, he was substituted after complaining of feeling sore against Bolton, with his replacement Kane Wilson scoring the winner 12 minutes from time.
Wilson could now start down the right flank with Louie Sibley on the opposite side, although it could be argued that Callum Elder should replace the 22-year-old.
Tackling machine Ebou Adams is nailed on to start in midfield with maestro Conor Hourihane continuing alongside him. Warne started with that duo in the engine room against Bolton, but the “superb” Liam Thompson came on at halftime to replace Tom Barkhuizen and was excellent.
The academy graduate could now keep his place in the starting XI after Barkhuizen picked up a knock.
With Gayle potentially missing the final weeks of the campaign, Martyn Waghorn has to take his chance in the side before Collins returns, partnering Nathaniel Mendez-Laing upfront.
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