3/1 To Win
Gary Rowett wants his Derby County squad to right some wrongs as they kick-off a hectic seven days with the visit of Middlesbrough to Pride Park Stadium on Saturday.
The Rams will go into the clash with Tony Pulis’ side looking to bounce back after the disappointing 3-1 defeat against Burton Albion at the Pirelli Stadium last weekend.
Rowett believes that his side can take inspiration from the way they recovered from a similar defeat against Sunderland earlier in the season.
He told RamsTV: “We have to take the opportunity like we did against Preston and Bolton, but the nature of this league means that you can’t drop off for two games, and the nature of the last one puts everyone on a downer.
“We are in a scenario where we have four games to go – with three in a massive week - and we have to perform.
“We have been really positive this week and we have worked really hard, and that’s all we can do to put things right.”
Earlier this term, Matej Vydra inspired Derby’s first win at the Riverside Stadium since 2000, with his stunning hat-trick leading the Rams to a comfortable 3-0 success.
It is one of the games that Rowett has taken the most pride from this season.
He said: “We played really well against Middlesbrough [in November]. They had a lot of the ball but we had a clinical moment where we counter-attacked and scored, and the next thing you know we were 3-0 up.
“It was one of the best performances of the season, to go to a place like that when they were in reasonably good form, so it was a fantastic game.”
The Derby boss has named the same starting eleven for each of the last four games since the 1-0 victory at Preston North End at the start of the month.
Rowett admits that he will look to make changes, as he magnified the importance of the games that his side will face over the next week.
“Even if we keep the same team, there will be small adjustments, it might look the same but it won’t quite be the same game plan,” he explained.
“We lost a bit of continuity because of injuries and the players that were unavailable, so we wanted to put a team together with good synergy and understanding between them.
“By doing that, we got two results on the bounce that we wanted, but maybe for the midweek game, we felt the fatigue.
“It’s easy in retrospect but we have four massive games and three in a week, so I have to pick carefully so that we can maintain our energy levels.
“It’s a massive week for us, but also an exciting one. There are lots of teams that have spent lots of money that would be desperate to have this sort of week.
“We are still in the race and still in the mix for one of those play-off places and we have to make the most of it.”
