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Phillip Cocu is optimistic that Krystian Bielik will be available for Derby County’s Sky Bet Championship clash at Blackburn Rovers.


Derby will kick off a busy month of action on the pitch with a trip north to take on Tony Mowbray’s side on Saturday afternoon (3pm kick-off).

Bielik sat out last weekend’s 1-1 draw at home to Queens Park Rangers after feeling some discomfort about his hip area during the pre-match warm-up.

The Poland international midfielder had initially been named in the starting XI but was forced to withdraw just before kick-off and was replaced by George Evans.

Cocu has revealed that Bielik trained with Derby’s squad on Thursday and says there’s every chance he could feature at Ewood Park.


Speaking to RamsTV, the Derby boss said: “Krystian is progressing well. He trained for most of the session with the team today and prepared a little bit longer before the session with the physical coach too.

“It is looking promising, but tomorrow we will make the final decision as to whether he is available or not for this weekend.”

He added: “He has to be fit but also fit enough to travel, play at a hundred per cent and there are a lot of games coming up too.

“We have to make sure everybody stays fit, especially at the moment when we are struggling with a lot of injuries.”


Cocu also revealed in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Blackburn game that midfielder Tom Huddlestone and defender Matthew Clarke are making good progress in their rehabilitation programmes.

Huddlestone has been out of action since the start of October with a hamstring problem, while Clarke picked up a knee injury in the defeat at Nottingham Forest in early November.

However, Graeme Shinnie (hamstring), Mason Bennett (ankle) and Ikechi Anya (calf) remain out of action.