3/1 To Win
After progression in the Premier League Cup last week, Ethan Wassall has urged Derby County’s Under-23s to return to winning ways in the league as they look to improve on their eighth-place finish last term.
The Rams put together a strong run of form earlier in the season, but Darren Wassall’s side are now without a win in Premier League 2 – Division 1 since November and they currently sit ninth, albeit with a game in hand over the three teams above.
They travel to Goodison Park to face Everton on Monday night, and centre-back Wassall believes that whilst performances have been much improved for the majority of this campaign, it’s now time to make that show with three points.
He told RamsTV: “It’s only our second season in the top division, we stayed up by the skin of our teeth last season and we felt that we should have done better.
“We work hard on the training ground but experience is the main thing, we’ve dealt with games in a better way this season, we’ve managed them better.
“We want to kick on and finish better than we did last year.”
On the trip to Merseyside, he added: “Everton are a great side, we’ve played them already this season, they’re physical but they can also play, so we know it’s not going to be an easy game.
“It’s at Goodison so everybody will be buzzing for that, not many of us have played there before so we’re all looking forward to it.”
Loan departures appeared to have depleted the squad during January, but both younger players and those on the fringes during the first half of the campaign have stepped up impressively.
Alex Cover has stood out at the heart of the back line, and Wassall praised his defensive partner, as well as the others to come into the side.
He said: “He’s a great defender and he’s probably been unfortunate this season because Jason Shackell has been playing.
“Since he has come in, he’s been class so we’re delighted, we’ve played together for a number of years so we can bounce off eachother.
“We’ve had a lot of players that have gone out on loan, but players have stepped up and they haven’t looked out of place at all.”
