Sibley Back From Injury For Local Derby Clash

Louie Sibley is set to return to the Derby County fold for Friday night’s local derby encounter at Nottingham Forest (7:45pm kick-off).

The England Under-20 international midfielder has missed Derby’s last three matches with an injury sustained in training earlier this month.

The Academy graduate resumed training at the end of last week and is in contention to feature at the City Ground.

Sibley’s return to action further boosts Phillip Cocu’s options going forward with Tom Lawrence and Martyn Waghorn recently returning from injuries.

Lawrence and Waghorn have recovered from shoulder and calf injuries respectively, while new signing Colin Kazim-Richards made his debut in the 1-0 defeat at Huddersfield Town in midweek to provide another attacking option.

Cocu told RamsTV: “Pretty much everybody is fit for Friday and Louie Sibley is available.

“Those minutes that some players got midweek are very important and especially for those who did not play for a few weeks or even longer.

“To get the real game minutes in for Tom Lawrence and build on 30 minutes against Watford with over 60 minutes against Huddersfield is good. We think he can do more on Friday and that is positive.

“Hopefully we can keep the squad fit and have the team we are working with now; we know we can build from that."

Polish international midfielder Krystian Bielik is set to step up his return from a long-term knee injury by playing for Derby’s Under-23s against Southampton on Friday.

In addition, summer signing Jordon Ibe is also likely to feature against the Saints to get minutes under his belt after over a year without a competitive match to his name.

Derby will, however, still be without skipper Wayne Rooney as he must self-isolate for another week after encountering someone that has tested positive for COVID-19 last week.