Wolves (H)

The Rams are back at Pride Park Stadium and will face Wolverhampton Wanderers this weekend in their first competitive home fixture of the 2017/18 season.

After back-to-back away games against Sunderland and Grimsby Town – the latter an abandoned Carabao Cup First Round match – Derby County are gearing up for two consecutive home matches and ahead of this weekend’s game, dcfc.co.uk has pulled together all the key information you are going to need to know…

WHAT’S THE LATEST TEAM NEWS?

Gary Rowett is likely to revert to a squad similar to the one that he picked for the opening day draw at Sunderland for when the Rams face Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The Derby boss made eight changes to his starting XI for the abandoned Carabao Cup First Round match against Grimsby Town – so expect a similar amount when the team sheets go in at 2pm on Saturday.

Craig Bryson was ruled out of the encounter with the Shrimpers, but Rowett confirmed that the Scotland midfielder will be in the squad.

There are still doubts over the fitness over Matej Vydra.

George Thorne, Jason Shackell, Darren Bent, Max Lowe and Jamie Hanson are all ruled out of this weekend’s clash against Nuno Espisito Santo’s men.

WHAT DID THE BOSS HAVE TO SAY?

Speaking to RamsTV ahead of the visit of Wolves, Gary Rowett said: “I went to watch Wolves last Saturday which was the beauty of playing on a Friday.

“At times they were impressive and play a very free style of football. They have some good footballers there and technical players from Europe.

“They caused Middlesbrough, a much-fancied team, a few problems and we will have to be at our best.

“It’s like any home game, it’s up to make the running and to take the game to the opposition as we look to get the first win of the season.”

WHO IS THE PLAYER TO WATCH?

If you were asked to produce a list of high profile signings in the Sky Bet Championship this summer, the arrival of Ruben Neves would be right up there.

The 20-year-old midfielder signed for Wolves from FC Porto to not only set a new club record, but it also equalled the second tier’s too.

He comes with a great deal of pedigree and has made an immediate impression at Wolves with an eye-catching man of the match display in the 1-0 win over Middlesbrough on the opening weekend of the season.

Want to know more about him?

Neves emerged through the youth ranks at Porto, having joined them at the age of eight.

In the 2012/13 season he was loaned to Padroense, which acted as Porto’s Under-16 team, going on to make his Porto debut in the Portuguese League as a 17-year-old in August 2014 and became the youngest player in Porto’s history to score a goal in the competition.

Five days later he became the youngest ever Portuguese player to appear in the Champions League, whilst in October 2015 – as an 18-year-old – he became the youngest ever Champions League captain against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

The landmarks continued as Neves became the youngest ever to chalk up 50 appearances for Porto.

In total, despite still being only 20, he has made 93 senior appearances – including 18 in the Champions League - from which he has scored four goals.

Neves also boasts extensive experience at international level through the Portuguese age groups.

Most recently he appeared for the Under-21 squad in the European Championships in Poland.

He also boasts two senior caps for Portugal, against Russia and Luxembourg.

HOW YOU CAN SECURE YOUR SEAT?

Tickets for Derby County’s opening home game of the 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship season are available to purchase on General Sale.

Tickets are available from the following prices:

Adults - £27
Senior Citizens (aged 65+) – £19
Under 18s - £15
2 to 12 Year Olds - £8.50

* Please note that the above pricing is based on Category D & E seating.

Tickets for 2-12 Year Olds are available across all areas of the stadium for the 2017/18 season.

Home Membership Holders receive 10 per cent off their own home league ticket purchase.

Buy your tickets here: dcfc.co.uk/toptix/en-gb/categories/home.

Purchases can also be made by calling 0871 472 1884 (option 1) or in person from the Ticket Office during normal opening hours.

Derby County’s Ticketing Terms & Conditions for the 2017/18 campaign can be found here: dcfc.co.uk/page/ticketing-terms-conditions.

Full details on ticketing pricing and policies is available here: dcfc.co.uk/page/ticket-pricing-policies.

YOUR MATCHDAY PROGRAMME

We sat down for an in-depth chat with Andre Wisdom for our first full edition of our award-winning matchday programme for the 2017/18 season!

The Ram spoke exclusively to the 24-year-old full back to discuss why he decided to return to the club, what he has learned from his loan spells over the last three years and THAT chant.

Sporting a more ‘traditional’ B5 layout, Saturday’s instalment of Derby County’s official matchday programme is our first full 76-page publication of the new season and will be on sale for just £3 from all around Pride Park Stadium ahead of kick-off: 3pm.

Here’s a flavour of what you can expect from our #DCFCvWWFC edition of The Ram…

WHAT HAPPENED THE LAST TIME WE MET

DERBY COUNTY 3-1 WOLVES
Saturday 29th April 2007

Derby County ended their final home game of the 2016/17 season on a winning note after comfortably seeing off ten-man Wolverhampton Wanderers with a 3-1 win.

David Nugent’s 12th minute header saw the Rams capitalise on a superb start to the contest and just before the half-an-hour mark, Bradley Johnson extended Derby’s advantage with a close-range conversion.

After being reduced to ten-men, the visitors did manage to peg one back through Ben Marshall, right on the cusp of half-time, against the run of play.

However, a professional second-half display saw Derby regain their two-goal lead through Craig Bryson as the hosts claimed a comfortable victory in their final home game of the 2016/17 campaign.

Derby County: Carson, Baird, Keogh, Pearce (Christie, 68), Olsson (Anya, 83), Butterfield, Bryson, Johnson, Ince, Nugent, Russell

Substitutes not used: Mitchell, De Sart, Vydra, Bennett, Macdonald

Wolverhampton Wanderers: Burgoyne, Edwards (C), Saville, Dicko (Bodvarsson, 78), Evans, Coady, Saiss, Hause, Cavaleiro, Williamson, Marshall (Enobakhare, 73)

Substitutes not used: Ruddy, Pereira, Batth, Mason, Graham

Attendance: 31,051 (2,888 away supporters)

WHO ARE THE MATCH OFFICIALS?

Lee Probert will take charge of Derby County's 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship fixture at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers this Saturday.

Probert oversaw 31 games last season in all competitions, producing a total of 72 yellow cards and two reds.

His last Derby game was the 1-1 draw at Norwich City during the 2014/15 season.

Probert will be assisted by Andrew Garratt and Dan Cook on the lines, whilst Tony Harrington has been appointed as the fourth official.

HOW CAN I FOLLOW THE ACTION?

Derby County’s home meeting with Wolverhampton Wanderers this weekend will be RamsTV’s first live Sky Bet Championship stream for supporters based outside the UK and Republic of Ireland.

For the first time of the 2017/18 season, subscribers based outside the UK and Republic of Ireland will be able to watch the entire match, exclusively, live on RamsTV.

Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect from our #DCFCvWWFC production...

FRIDAY

• A preview show to the match - brought to you from Pride Park Stadium, host Jack Woodward will be joined by special guests Michael Johnson and Darren Bent to discuss the game ahead and will air across dcfc.co.uk at 6pm.

SATURDAY

• Matchday Live will begin with a pre-match show beginning at 2:25pm ahead of the 3pm kick-off at Pride Park. Michael Johnson and England Under-20s manager Paul Simpson will join host Colin Gibson as live studio guests to build up to the Rams' meeting with Wolves and digest the team news coming out of Pride Park Stadium.
• A pre-match interview with Gary Rowett ahead of kick-off.
• If you are based in the UK and Republic of Ireland you will be able to listen to live audio commentary from BBC Radio Derby, whilst subscribers based outside of the UK will be able to watch every kick of the action – with Jack Woodward and Shane Nicholson providing the match commentary.

SUNDAY

• Match highlights and the full 90 minutes will be available across dcfc.co.uk and RamsTV after 12pm on Sunday.

MONDAY

• A review show - Host Colin Gibson will be joined by Roger Davies and Michael Johnson to review all the key action and will be aired on Monday ahead of the Under-23s’ season-opener against Arsenal (kick-off|: 7pm).

Match Highlights and the Matchday Live show will be available to view for supporters in the UK the day after each first-team fixture.

The new RamsTV streaming service is available to all supporters who resister on our new-look website dcfc.co.uk – which launched In June and has been developed with significant supporter input.

To access the full RamsTV streaming service will cost the following:

First-Team Match Streaming (outside UK) - £110 annual subscription or £12.50 per month

First-Team Audio Commentary (worldwide) - £45 annual subscription or £5 per month

A link to packages can be found here.

The two premium services are in addition to the regular pre-match and post-match interviews on RamsTV.

Supporters will also be able to follow all of the action, as usual, across our social media channels.

We will be providing behind the scenes content across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, where we will also provide a blow-by-blow account of proceedings at Pride Park Stadium.