Derby go into Tuesday night's showdown with Sheffield Wednesday on the back of a 12-match unbeaten run. The Rams have not tasted defeat since November 28th.
Despite Derby's excellent run of form over the last two and half months, the club slipped to third place in the Championship over the weekend. A 1-1 draw with Norwich coupled with an Aston Villa win saw the Rams fall out of the automatic promotion places. However, Derby can return to second place with a win over Sheffield Wednesday.
Derby have been excellent in defence over their last five Championship fixtures. The Rams have given up one goal, which came against Norwich over the weekend. However, the team's biggest problem has been its inability to score goals during that stretch. The team has tallied seven goals but were twice held to nil-nil draws in the last five matches. Derby's recent drought of goals has allowed Aston Villa to overtake them for the time being. Despite a dry spell in front of goal, Derby have scored the third most in the Championship (48). Unfortunately, last week striker Sam Winnal was ruled out of action for the remainder of the season through injury. Winnal was the sides second leading scorer with six goals. Leading goal scorer Matej Vydra has tallied 17 strikes this season, and the club will need the hitman to score even more goals to reach automatic promotion.
Derby's defence has been brilliant this term. The Rams have conceded the second fewest goals in the league (24). The team's 1-1 result with Norwich ended a four-match run without conceding a goal.
Sheffield Wednesday have won just once in their last 15 matches. The Owls have hit a lengthy poor run of form. The team's poor play saw manager Carlos Carvalhal lose his job. The Portuguese boss has since gone on to Swansea and had tremendous early success. New manager Jos Luhukay is still winless in the Championship. With just seven wins this term, it is fingernail biting time at Hillsborough as Wednesday are just six points above the relegation zone. Luhukay needs to get the ship right before the team get sucked into a relegation fight. Unfortunately, it looks like the club sacked the wrong manager (Carvalhal) as their former boss has completely turned Swansea around.
Wednesday have scored the sixth fewest goals in the Championship (32). Striker Gary Hooper has tallied nearly one-third of the team's goals, while no other player has more than four this season. Wednesday need the rest of their squad to step up, if they are to win on Tuesday night.
The last time these two sides met was in October. Derby ran out 2-0 winners in the fixture. The Rams did make the most of a Wednesday fourth minute red card to Glen Loovens. Vydra notched a penalty a minute later, but Derby didn't put the game out of reach until the 86th minute. Don't expect Wednesday to hold on as long this time around. Derby should have no trouble continuing their unbeaten run.