After suffering a midweek 2-1 defeat at home to Bristol City, Derby County have another opportunity to redeem themselves on Saturday on home turf when they entertain West Brom at Pride Park.
Although the loss to Bristol City was Derby’s first defeat overall in this new season, The Rams have produced a mixed bag of results so far in the Championship as they’ve won 1, lost 1 and drawn 2 from their first four matches of the second tier season.
An opening 2-1 win away at Huddersfield Town saw Derby get their new campaign off on a winning note, but since then, the east midlands outfit have struggled to put an early run of wins together as they’ve been held to stalemates by Swansea City and Stoke City in 0-0 and 2-2 draws respectively, as well as the 2-1 loss to Bristol City.
Backing the hosts for a straight win here therefore looks fraught with danger, but the goals market may appeal as 8 of Derby’s last 15 home matches have resulted in both teams scoring.
Onto West Brom, and they too had to endure a frustrating night at The Hawthorns during the week when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Reading, but at least West Brom maintained their unbeaten start to this new Championship campaign.
The Baggies have made a solid start to this new second tier season under new manager, Slaven Bilic, and interestingly, both of West Brom’s wins in the Championship so far have been achieved away from home with victories at Nottingham Forest and Luton Town, both by 2-1 margins.
The 1-1 draws with Millwall and Reading at The Hawthorns have been disappointing results for West Brom but they’ll fancy their chances of getting a result at Pride Park against a hesitant looking Derby County outfit who haven’t got going yet.
However, a note of caution for potential backers of West Brom for the win here; the Baggies have won just 3 of their last 9 away matches in the Championship, so can’t be trusted to pick up all 3 points in this clash.
Instead, the goal markets may appeal again especially with young West Brom midfielder, Diangana (2 goals) impressing in these early stages.
In addition, 5 of the last 6 meetings between these two teams has resulted in both teams hitting the back of the net, so another entertaining tussle could unfold here with both teams on the mark.