Derby County’s Under-23s will face their second away fixture inside six days when they travel north to face Manchester City in their latest
Premier League 2 - Division 1 fixture on Saturday afternoon.
The Under-23s will take on the Premier League champions' young guns at the City Football Academy (4pm kick-off) and dcfc.co.uk has brought together all the key information you will need to know ahead of the game.
Team News
There are no fresh injury concerns in Pat Lyons' squad from Monday's 3-1 loss at Tottenham Hotspur.
Striker Luke Plange, after a slow start to the campaign owing to COVID-19 isolation rules and injury, found the back of the net for the first time this season in the defeat at Tottenham and will be looking to build on his impressive display with another start.
Depending on the requirements for the first-team squad, players such as Jordan Brown, Isaac Hutchinson and Kornall McDonald could feature.
Derby will be without young winger Tyree Wilson after he suffered a knee injury in the Under-23s’ 2-0 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion in August. The wideman is set for a number of months out of action and is rated as doubtful to feature this side of Christmas.
The Season So Far
Derby's Under-23s put three straight defeats at the start of the 2021/22 season in Premier League 2 - Division 1 behind them with a 3-1 home win over West Ham United at Lougborough University last Monday.
The early-season losses against Brighton & Hove Albion (2-0), Leeds United (3-2) and Everton (1-0) all saw the Rams put in good performances, but they were unable to pick up anything for their efforts.
After a 3-3 draw at Norwich City in the Premier League Cup last month, they returned to league action by picking up all three points against the Hammers.
Defender Max Bardell opened the scoring before striker Jack Stretton, stepping down from the first-team to get a run-out, hit a double to secure a deserved three points.
However, they were unable to build on that positive result when they travelled south to face Tottenham Hotspur's Under-23 side in league action on Monday of this week as they were beaten 3-1.
Derby were 2-0 down early on and although Luke Plange pulled a goal back before the break, it was the hosts that went on to pick up all three points as they netted a third late on.
Manchester City's Under-23s have started the current campaign well, picking up four wins and two draws from their opening 2021/22 Premier League 2 - Division 1 fixtures to surge to the top of the table.
City started the campaign with a 0-0 draw at Liverpool, before they picked up their first win of the campaign with a 4-2 victory on home turf against Blackburn Rovers.
That maiden win was followed up at the end of August with another 4-2 win, this time away to Manchester United.
They returned to action after the first international break of the season with a 4-1 thrashing of Chelsea at the City Football Academy.
Their two league matches since, both at home, have seen them pick up four points in a 4-2 success against Crystal Palace and a 2-2 draw with Arsenal.
City’s youngsters are also competing in the Papa John’s Trophy this term and have picked up a win and a defeat from their two group games so far. They started their involvement in the competition with a 3-0 victory at Scunthorpe United last month, which was then backed up with a 2-1 reverse at Doncaster Rovers earlier this month.
Live Stream
RamsTV is unable to stream the game live owing to first-team commitments and other Premier League matches taking place on Saturday.
Full match highlights from the Premier League 2 - Division 1 clash will appear online on dcfc.co.uk following the game.