3/1 To Win
Wayne Rooney says the incentive for Derby County to lift themselves off the bottom of the Sky Bet Championship table on Wednesday night is a big one.
Derby will travel to Oakwell to face Barnsley knowing that a victory would see them climb above their opponents on goal difference.
Rooney’s side, after being deducted 12 points for entering administration in mid-September, have five points to their name after 15 matches.
They’ve chipped away at their total in recent months as they look to create history in avoiding relegation despite such a hefty points deduction.
Derby’s five match unbeaten run came to an end on Saturday with a 2-1 home defeat to Blackburn Rovers and Rooney is looking for an immediate reaction from his side.
Barnsley parted company with head coach Markus Schopp on Monday after a run of one win in 15 league games and seven straight defeats left them 23rd in the Championship.
Assistant head coach Joseph Laumann will take temporary charge of the Reds and Rooney has made it clear how big the game is for Derby.
“It’s never nice when you lose a game, especially at home and in the manner that we did on Saturday,” Rooney told RamsTV on Tuesday after training.
“As I said after the game, the first half wasn’t good enough. We must dust ourselves off and we have a very big game coming up at Barnsley.
“We know it’s a game where it can lift us off the bottom of the table so we have to give everything to win.”
He added “Barnsley have just lost their manager and played in different ways this season.
“It is quite difficult to analyse what they are going to do so we have to have trust in ourselves and in our game plan of how we want to play and if we do that well enough then we are more than capable of getting three points.”
Barnsley have registered one win this term to date in the Championship, but Rooney is taking nothing for granted and is aware of the threat posed by last season’s play-off semi-finalists.
He has made it clear that if his side aren’t on their game, they will be punished
“It’s a very difficult league and every game is difficult,” he said.
“Whether that is Barnsley or Peterborough who are down there or Bournemouth and Fulham who are at the top.
“Every game is difficult for its own reason, so we know that going into every game that we respect every team. We know that if we’re not at our best then we will get punished.”
