Despite losing some key players to league teams on loan this season, Darren Wassall says he has full confidence that his young Under-23s side can retain Derby County’s Premier League 2 Division 1 status come the end of the 2017/18 season.
The Rams are ninth in the table heading in to the final four games of the season and will take on Chelsea at St. George’s Park on Saturday 31st March, kick-off: 1pm.
They return to league play and will look to bounce back after being knocked out of the Premier League Cup on Tuesday night by Sheffield United in the Last-16.
But Wassall has told his team that they don’t have time to dwell on the disappointment and will quickly need to turn their focus to getting a result against a side the Rams’ academy director deems to have the best academy in the country at the weekend.
Derby have had every outcome against the Blues in the past three meetings, starting off with a 2-1 win in the season opener in the last campaign and a 2-2 draw a few months later.
Earlier this season they clashed under the beaming lights at Stamford Bridge but fell 2-0 to the home team.
“They are probably the best academy in the country in terms winning trophies but also producing players for the game,” Wassall told dcfc.co.uk.
“We know it’s going to be tough, it always is away at Chelsea but every game in this league is tough so we have just got to go there and make sure we prepare properly and go again.”
The Rams have games against Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and league leaders Leicester City to follow, despite the tough slate Wassall believes they will still be in the top division next season.
“It would be an achievement for the players [to remain in Division One], they have worked really hard this season and performed very, very well. They’ve lost quite a lot of their squad, quite rightly, to the league clubs on loan,” he added.
“But we have four games to go. We need to win at least one to have a chance of staying up so it’s all to play for. We will refocus very quickly and try to get a result on Saturday.”
Wassall has had to delve into his ranks in the academy numerous times this season as others gain experience on loan or have been called up into Gary Rowett’s squad. But he remains confident that his young squad has what it takes to finish the season strong.
“We’ve got some good players here, they’ve proven it over the last few months. They’ve had some great results against some big teams,” he said.
“We are very, very confident that they can raise themselves again and they can go again on Saturday, and if not, Saturday they’ve got another three games.
“We’ve got players on loan who are doing very well in the league, but the players that are left behind aren’t any less rated or valued and have done a brilliant job for us. Hopefully that will continue to the end of the season.”
