Derby County will be looking to bounce back from Tuesday night’s narrow defeat to Bolton Wanderers tomorrow afternoon, as they travel to another team that was relegated from the Premier League last season in the form of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Nigel Clough’s men were unfortunate to come away from Tuesday night’s encounter at the Reebok Stadium empty handed, as late goals from Kevin Davies and Chris Eagles inflicted a first defeat of the season on the Rams.
Wolves kicked-off their season with a Capital One Cup victory over Aldershot two weeks ago, before losing 1-0 to Leeds United on the opening day of the 2012-13 npower Championship season.
However, Stale Solbakken enjoyed his first win as Wolves boss on Tuesday night, with a 3-1 home victory over Barnsley as Wolves registered their first home win of 2012.
Here on dcfc.co.uk, we will bring you all you need to know ahead of the game at the Molineux.
Derby County Team News
Manager Nigel Clough has confirmed that the Rams have no fresh injury concerns following Tuesday night’s defeat at the Reebok Stadium.
Clough is hopeful defender Jake Buxton is available for selection after the centre-back missed out on the Bolton game through illness.
Elsewhere, new signing Kieron Freeman came through 90 minutes of Wednesday’s Under-21 2-2 draw with Leeds United – as did striker Theo Robinson - and the pair could be included in the matchday squad.
Mark O’Brien (knee) remains out of action whilst Shaun Barker (knee) is out for the season but the Club Captain has a big role to play off the field.
James Bailey and Tom Naylor have slight niggles and will again sit out the game, but are expected to re-join training next week.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Team News
Slawomir Peszko is set to keep his place in the Wolves side after making his first start for the Club in midweek against Barnsley, but boss Stale Solbakken will make at least one change to his side after winger Matt Jarvis was sold to Premier League West Ham United on Friday.
David Edwards, David Davis and Bjorn Sigurdarson also made substitute appearances for Solbakken's side against Barnsley and will hope they have done an enough to force inclusion.
New signingGeorg Margreitter from FK Austria Wien will not feature, while Steven Fletcher's departure to Sunderland will not cause Wolves any selection headaches as he failed to feature in the first-team squad this season prior to his departure.
We Said
Manager Nigel Clough:“It’s another tough-looking fixture for us and despite not having won in either of our two league games, we’ve been happy with the performances we’ve seen.
“We need to just take our chances when we’re on top and, unfortunately, we’re experiencing the fine lines between winning, losing and drawing games at the moment.
“Wolves have a strong squad despite losing Steven Fletcher and Matt Jarvis this week and given they won in midweek I would image they will be full of confidence.”
They Said
Midfielder Dave Edwards:“I remember the year we went up we started off with a draw at Plymouth and then came here and beat Sheffield Wednesday which started off a good run.
“We need to try and do something like that again now if we can.
“If we could beat Derby on Saturday that would be six points out of the first nine which would be a very good start.”
Ticket Information
Derby County fans have until 5pm today to pre-purchase their tickets for the game – and should be aware than there will be NO TICKETS on sale on the day of the game.
The Club have sold around 1,000 tickets from the initial 2,000 allocation, and supporters can pick up their pre-purchased tickets from the Molineux if they can’t make it to the Digonex Ticket Office at Pride Park Stadium.
Tickets cost £28 for adults, £15 for over 65s and under-21s, £12 for under-17s and £10 for under-12s. Tickets can be purchased in person from the Digonex Ticket Office or over the phone on 0871 472 1884.
Man In The Middle
Jonathan Moss from West Yorkshire will take charge of proceedings at the Molineux tomorrow afternoon.
Moss officiated the opening day Lancashire derby between Burnley and Bolton Wanderers, brandishing three yellow cards.
His last game at Pride Park was back in December last year, as the Rams overcame Sam Allardyce’s West Ham United, 2-1.
Last season, Mathieson branded 112 yellow cards and 11 red cards in the 32 games he officiated.
Fancy A Flutter?
Coral, the official betting and gaming partner of dcfc.co.uk, are offering odds of 7/2 for a Derby County win at the Molineux.
A draw is priced at 5/2, and Coral are also offering odds of 4/5 for a home victory for Solbakken's men. More odds on the game and all this weekend's matches are available at http://www.coral.co.uk/fli/derby-county.
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