Derby County and manager, Philip Cocu, got off to the perfect start in the Championship last weekend when they recorded a 2-1 win away at Huddersfield Town, and they return to Pride Park this Saturday afternoon to play host to Swansea City.
Although Derby had lost two of their inspirational goalscoring midfielders in the shape of Harry Wilson and Mason mount, it was their existing one that helped The Rams grab all three points as Tom Lawrence scored a couple of screamers.
Lawrence’s contributions would have been worthy of goal of the season contenders, and the hosts will be in confident mood this weekend as they look to register back-to-back wins.
Whilst Derby always looked threatening going forward though, there’s always a feeling that they’re vulnerable at the back and visitors Swansea City will be looking to exploit that on Saturday afternoon.
In addition, 7 of Derby County’s last 11 matches overall in all competitions have seen both teams hit the back of the net, so we could be in store for further goals at Pride Park on Saturday afternoon.
Swansea City showed their resilience under new manager, Steve Cooper, last Saturday when they recorded a 2-1 home win against Hull City, despite going a goal down early on in the match.
The Swans found themselves 1-0 down within the first 5 minutes but clawed their way back into the game with a goal from Spanish forward Borja just after half-time.
Swansea then took the lead following a goal from defender van der Hoorn and the Welsh club managed to hold on to register an important three points.
That victory took Swansea’s winning streak to 7 matches although it should be noted that the previous six wins were all in pre-season friendlies. Nevertheless, it’s now 12 matches without defeat for Swansea City in all competitions, so they too will feel confident in getting something at Pride Park this Saturday.
In 9 of Swansea City’s last 15 away matches have seen both teams score, and although they’ve lost last season’s leading goalscorer, Oliver McBurnie, they still possess the likes of Celina and Borja up front.
The last three encounters overall between these two teams have resulted in both teams scoring, while the last two encounters at Pride Park have finished 2-1 in Derby County’s favour.
We could therefore see both teams score here in this clash.