Everything You Need To Know About Sunday's East Midlands Showdown

It’s the big one! East Midlands derby action returns to Pride Park Stadium on Sunday as Derby County prepare to take on Nottingham Forest in the 101st meeting between the two sides.

Club football returns after the second international break of the campaign and ahead of Sunday’s showdown with Forest, dcfc.co.uk has pulled together all the key information you are going to need to know…

WHAT’S THE LATEST TEAM NEWS?

Derby County will be without the services of Bradley Johnson this weekend.

The 30-year-old midfielder picked up his fifth yellow card of the season in the 0-0 stalemate at Cardiff City before the international break.

That aside, Gary Rowett has no new injury problems after the players that headed out on international duty reported back fit and raring to go.

Max Lowe is back in training as he continues to build back to full fitness and is expected to feature for the Under-23s in Monday evening’s clash with the Premier League 2 Division 1 table-toppers Liverpool at St George’s Park, alongside Jamie Hanson.

Mason Bennett and Darren Bent remain ruled out injured.

WHAT DID THE BOSS HAVE TO SAY?

Speaking to RamsTV ahead of the weekend, Gary Rowett said: “We are desperate to win the game for the fans more than anything else.

“We understand the bragging rights and the way it works for both sets of supporters. You want the game to be played in the right spirit and with the right type of attitude; that goes without saying.

“In these types of games, having that support can make a massive and unbelievable difference.”

He added: “Even if the team are not doing as well as they would like, it’s really important that we get that support – but we also have to produce a level of performance that represent the passion they want to see to get that backing.

“We need to be together on this one day and do everything we can to win. I have played in these games, watched them and managed in them now – so I’m really looking forward to my first one at Pride Park.”

WHO IS THE PLAYER TO WATCH?

Daryl Murphy has cemented himself as a key figure in the Nottingham Forest line-up since completing his summer switch from Newcastle United.

The 34-year-old has scored six goals in 12 appearances for the Reds and is amongst the division’s leading marksman as the 2017/18 campaign prepares to get underway again.

A powerful target man with an eye for goal, Murphy made his name in English football with Sunderland after joining in 2005 from Irish side Waterford United.

He had loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town during his five years on Wearside and made more than 100 appearances before moving to Scotland with Celtic.

Two further loan spells at Ipswich followed before he joined The Tractor Boys permanently in 2013, hitting double figures in each of his three full seasons at Portman Road, including being the Championship's top scorer in 2014/15 with 27 goals.

Rafa Benitez took him to Newcastle at the start of last season to help their promotion push and he now teams up with Mark Warburton's side ahead of the 2017/18 campaign.

HOW YOU CAN SECURE YOUR SEAT?

The matchday ticket prices have been confirmed for Derby County’s Sky Bet Championship fixture against Nottingham Forest at Pride Park Stadium this afternoon.

Ticket prices are increased on the day of a game, so pre-purchasing prior to matchdays is recommended.

Tickets are available for Derby County supporters from:

Adults - £35
Senior Citizens (aged 65+) – £25.50
Under-18s - £20.50
2 to 12 Year Olds - £12

* Category D & E prices are listed above.

For matchday ticket enquiries and purchases, please visit the Ticket Office at Pride Park Stadium or call 0871 472 1884 (option 1).

Alternatively, supporters can also buy tickets online right here on dcfc.co.uk.

* Calls cost 13p per minute, plus your phone company's access charge.

WHAT’S TO COME IN THE RAM?

Supporters who buy a copy of the Nottingham Forest edition of The Ram will be in with a chance of winning a PlayStation 4 copy of the new FIFA 18, signed by members of the Derby County squad!

One golden ticket has been randomly placed in one of our matchday programme’s and it is now down to you to find it and get in touch with us.

On top of that, following a successful soft launch ahead of the Birmingham City game, we will be cranking up the use of augmented reality up a notch with more pages than ever being brought, quite literally, to life through the use of the Layar Mobile App – which can be downloaded from the Apple Store or Google Play.

Supporters who do purchase a copy of our award-winning official matchday publication, which retails at just £3, will be able to view a message from Joe Ledley, the edition’s Big Interview, by simply scanning the front cover.

On top of that, click here to read a brief review of what else you can expect from our #DCFCvNFFC edition of The Ram…

WHAT HAPPENED THE LAST TIME WE MET?

DERBY COUNTY 3-0 NOTTINGHAM FOREST
Tuesday 27th December 2016

Derby day honours belonged to Derby County the last time these two sides met at Pride Park Stadium as three goals saw them record a comfortable win over their East Midlands rivals.

A cagey first half display only had a Nicklas Bendtner own goal separating the two outfits, before the Rams turned on the style over the second 45 minutes, overrunning their opponents to claim a sixth straight Sky Bet Championship win.

Tom Ince added his fifth goal in as many games to double the Rams’ advantage, before Will Hughes opened his goalscoring account for the season with a smart follow up finish shortly after the hour.

The day was made even sweeter as the club also equalled a club record for home clean sheets – a sixth consecutive.

Derby County: Carson, Baird, Keogh (C), Pearce, Olsson; Johnson, Butterfield, Hughes (Bryson, 75); Ince (Weimann, 83), Russell, Bent (Vydra, 71)

Substitutes not used: Mitchell, Shackell, Camara, Hanson

Nottingham Forest: Stojković, Lichaj, Mancienne, Mills, Carayol, (Vellios, 60) Osborn, Bendtner, Kasami, Perquis, Lam (Pereira, 70), Cash (Vaughan, 84)

Substitutes not used: Traore, Henderson, Worrall

Attendance: 32,600 (3,115 away supporters)

WHO ARE THE MATCH OFFICIALS?

Andrew Madley will take charge of Derby County's 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship fixture at home to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.

Madley has overseen 11 games so far this season, producing 23 yellows and no reds.

His last Derby game was the 3-1 away defeat at Sheffield United back in August.

Madley will be assisted by Mark Russell and Lee Venamore on the lines, whilst Tim Robinson has been appointed as the fourth official.

HOW CAN I FOLLOW THE ACTION?

Whilst there is going to be a big game on the pitch, there is a debut off it as Owen Bradley takes his place in the RamsTV studio for the first time since being announced as the new face of the club’s expanding digital media coverage!

Due to the game being screened live on Sky Sports, RamsTV are NOT be able to stream this match against Forest live, but supporters, both in the UK and abroad, will still able to listen to every moment of the action.

Here's a breakdown of what you can expect from our #DCFCvNFFC Matchday Live production:

FRIDAY

• The Nottingham Forest Preview Show (6pm) Host Jack Woodard is joined in the RamsTV studio by former Rams defender Shane Nicholson and presenter Colin Gibson to look ahead to the visit of Mark Warburton’s Nottingham Forest.
• The Pre-Match Press Conference (6:30pm) – You have seen our interviews, but what was said to the local and national media? You can find out by watching Gary Rowett and Andre Wisdom’s busy pre-match press conference, in full, only on RamsTV!

SATURDAY

• Supporters’ Forest Predictions (6pm) – we sent Kim Birtwistle out into Derby’s city centre to get the thoughts of Rams supporters ahead of the big game on Sunday.
• RamsTV Meets… Darren Wassall Part One (6:30pm) – a former Derby and Forest defender, Colin Gibson sat down for in-depth chat with Darren Wassall to discuss his playing career to date and Brian Clough.
• Analysing Analytics (7pm) – RamsTV recently sat down with Head of Performance Analysis, Joe Carnall, to look at what preparations goes into a big game derby fixture from an analytics point of view.
• Behind The Scenes With Eyez (7:30pm) – His football freestyle video went down a storm on Friday and RamsTV was there every step of the way through its production. Now you can see how it was produced.

SUNDAY

• Matchday Live (12:30pm) – Owen Bradley takes his place in the RamsTV studio for the first time since becoming the club’s lead presenter and is joined by former Derby defenders Michael Johnson and Shane Nicholson to bring you the final preview ahead of Sunday’s East Midlands derby showdown with Nottingham Forest.
• Matchday Live will be the only place supporters will be able to catch the final pre-match interview with Gary Rowett ahead of kick-off (1:15pm).
• If you are based in the UK and Republic of Ireland you will be able to listen to live audio commentary from BBC Radio Derby, whilst subscribers based outside the UK will also be able to listen to all the action every step of the way – with Jack Woodward and Darren Bent providing live commentary on the latter.

MONDAY

• Match Highlights and the full Matchday Live show will be available to view for supporters in the UK the day after each first-team fixture on 12pm across dcfc.co.uk and RamsTV.
• The Nottingham Forest Review Show (6pm) Owen Bradley will be joined by Rams club ambassador Marc Edworthy and former defender Shane Nicholson in the RamsTV studio to analyse Derby’s meeting with Forest.

The RamsTV streaming service is available to all supporters who register on dcfc.co.uk.

To access the full RamsTV streaming service will cost the following:

First-Team Match Streaming (outside UK) - £110 annual subscription or £12.50 per month
First-Team Audio Commentary (worldwide) - £45 annual subscription or £5 per month

A link to packages can be found here.

The two premium services are in addition to the regular pre-match and post-match interviews on RamsTV.

Supporters will also be able to follow all of the action, as usual, across our social media channels.

We will be providing behind the scenes content across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, where we will also provide a blow-by-blow account of proceedings at Pride Park Stadium.