Fri 30 Jan - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 4mins
Derby County are on the road in the Sky Bet Championship when they face Bristol City on Friday (8pm kick-off).
The Rams will head to Ashton Gate on the back of earning seven points from their last three matches, with wins against Preston North End and Charlton Athletic and a draw against West Bromwich Albion at Pride Park Stadium.
The honours were even at Pride Park Stadium when opponents Bristol visited in August, with Carlton Morris cancelling out Scott Twine’s earlier strike.
Derby will aim to secure maximum points and extend their goalscoring record when they head to the South West, with the chance to register a goal for the 20th consecutive match this season.
If they are to do this, Eustace’s men will topple a recent
trend, with the last four meetings between the sides at Ashton Gate ending 1-0
to the hosts.
Tickets went off sale ONLINE, IN-PERSON and via TELEPHONE from the DCFC Ticket Office at 12pm on Thursday 29th January 2026.
Pay On The Day is NOT available from Ashton Gate. Those fans without a ticket are advised not to make the trip to Bristol, as they will be unable to gain access to the stadium.
Head Coach John Eustace sat down with RamsTV ahead of Derby’s trip to Bristol.
Ahead of the trip to Ashton Gate, striker Patrick Agyemang also spoke with RamsTV.
In 2024/25, manager Liam Manning led Bristol City to the Sky Bet Championship Play-Offs for the first time in 17 years.
A 6-0 aggregate defeat to Sheffield United in the Semi-Final ended their season, but a platform for success was built, and hopes were high that the Robins could look to better the feat in the new campaign.
But Manning left for boyhood club Norwich City in June 2025, leaving this task to new Head Coach Gerhard Struber.
The Austrian, who has managed New York Red Bulls, Red Bull Salzburg and FC Köln in recent seasons, came with previous English football experience, having overseen Barnsley in 2019/20.
Struber has looked to continue where his predecessor left off in BS3, with 12 wins and seven draws from 29 matches this term, seeing Bristol occupying seventh place in the division.
Former Rams Academy striker Emil Riis is the Robins’ top scorer this season with 10 goals from 30 games in all competitions, while Championship stalwart and set-piece specialist Scott Twine closely follows with eight strikes, along with seven assists to his name.
Bristol have refreshed their ranks in the January window. Struber’s side will be without attacker Anis Mehmeti, who had contributed 35% of the Robins’ goal involvements (14) this term, before his impressive form attracted the attention of promotion-chasing Ipswich Town.
Former Derby man Haydon Roberts has departed for Reading in League One, long-time goalkeeper Max O’Leary linked up with West Bromwich Albion, and wingers Yu Hirakawa and Harry Cornick have headed out on loan to Hull City and Stevenage, respectively.
Joining the club, veteran midfielder Sam Morsy signed up early this month, and the Robins’ Young Player of the Season last term, George Earthy, returned on loan from West Ham United.
A further two additions came the day before the clash with Derby, as Middlesbrough striker Delano Burgzorg signed up on loan and young Manchester City left-back Seb Naylor joined on a three-and-a-half-year deal.
Ex-Derby Academy products Max Bird and Jason Knight still ply their trade at Ashton Gate, with the latter captaining the South West side.
Bird still looks set to be absent for the Robins, though, as a calf issue has ruled him out of action since mid-September.
City came out 2-0 winners in their last league fixture against Sheffield Wednesday, their second victory of 2026. Before the result against the Owls, Bristol had gone winless in their previous three games.
Derby secured three points at Ashton Gate in a crucial step to securing a Play-Off spot in the 2018/19 campaign.
The teams met in April 2019 with both sides aiming to finish in the upper echelons of the league, and it was the Rams who took home the spoils.
Tom Lawrence opened the scoring in the 18th minute while superb Rams defending kept the home side off the scoresheet with multiple saves by Kelle Roos and goal-line blocks coming from Jayden Bogle and Martyn Waghorn.
Antoine Semenyo was shown a straight red in the second half for a challenge on Tom Huddlestone, and Bogle then added the finishing touches in the 77th minute, coolly firing into the roof of the net.
Tom Nield will officiate the Championship clash. He has overseen 14 second-tier fixtures so far this term, handing out 51 yellow cards and one red card.
Nield last held the whistle in a Rams match when John Eustace’s side took a point in a 1-1 draw away to Wrexham in September 2025.
The assistant referees at The Valley will be Johnathon Bickerdike and Callum Gough, while the fourth official duties will be taken by Oliver Langford.
Live audio commentary for all of Derby County’s first team matches in the 2025/26 season - both league and cup fixtures - is available to RamsTV Audio subscribers based both in the UK and internationally.
RamsTV's Video Live Streaming and other services for this season can be found here.
Full match reaction will be available on dcfc.co.uk and the Derby County App shortly after full time, with highlights and a full match replay available from midnight.
Ashton Gate Stadium
Middlesbrough
Hull City
Wrexham
Derby County
Norwich City
Birmingham City
Swansea City
Bristol City
