Derby County v Cardiff City. Match preview

Last updated : 14 February 2017 By Michael Morris

Three key midfielders are injury concerns for Derby ahead of their Sky Bet Championship clash against Cardiff.

Bradley Johnson, Craig Bryson and Will Hughes are all carrying knocks after Saturday's game, which saw the Rams battle back from 3-0 down to rescue a 3-3 draw at home to Bristol City, and will be assessed.

Defenders Cyrus Christie and Max Lowe both missed out against the Robins after playing 120 minutes at Leicester in the FA Cup last Wednesday but they are available again.

Striker David Nugent still awaits his full debut for Derby while Johnny Russell, Ikechi Anya, Julien de Sart and Jacob Butterfield are also pushing for starting places.

Cardiff will again be without defenders Lee Peltier and Bruno Manga as they look for a repeat performance at Pride Park after securing a shock 2-0 win at Leeds at the weekend.

The visitors, who scored through Sean Morrison and Kenneth Zohore to move up to 14th in the table, will be without Peltier and Manga for two months through injury.

Peltier has undergone ankle surgery and Manga has not featured for his club after suffering knee ligament damage at the African Nations Cup playing for Gabon.

Rickie Lambert will hope to get a start after appearing as a substitute at Elland Road and midfielder Anthony Pilkington could return to the squad following a thigh strain.

 

Match facts

  • Derby have won three of their last four league meetings with Cardiff (L1).
  • Cardiff haven't won away at Derby since November 2011 under Malky Mackay (D2 L1 since).
  • Of the league goals Derby have conceded since Steve McClaren returned as manager, 20% came in the first half of their last game against Bristol City (3 of 15).
  • Cardiff kept a clean sheet in their last away league game at Leeds but haven't kept consecutive away clean sheets since October 2015.