Derby County’s Under-18s begin their Premier League Cup campaign against Swansea City this weekend at Landore Training Centre in their first group stage match, kick-off 12pm.
And after falling to their first defeat of the season last time out at the Training Centre in partnership with the University of Derby, Justin Walker’s and Rory Delap’s side will be keen to return to winning ways.
Following an unbeaten run, stemming four games all the way back to the opening day of the season, last weekend saw the Under-18s’ impressive run come to an end after they suffered a 2-0 defeat against Premier League side Manchester United.
Angel Gomes and Nishan Burkart were on target for the visitors either side of the half-time interval to take the spoils in a game of very few chances.
As for the Rams’ next test, a trip to Wales awaits them in them in the newly formed Premier League Cup, a group and knock-out stage tournament involving 24 Category 1 teams.
Looking in-depth at Derby’s opponents for the afternoon, Swansea, who reside in Premier League – South, come into the game unbeaten so far this term – having picked up two wins and two draws from their first four games of the 2017/18 season.
Currently sitting in fifth place in the table, last time out the South-Wales based side overcame West Ham United by a 2-1 scoreline and the in-form side will be keen to get their new competition campaign off to a winning start.
Speaking to preview the upcoming test against the Swans, Connor Dixon spoke exclusively to dcfc.co.uk.
He said: “The Premier League Cup is a good opportunity for the lads to progress onto the next round and get to play the better teams to ultimately go as far as we can in the competition.
“We haven’t set a target as such in the league, we just want to win every game that we have in front of us.
“The cup is a great opportunity for us to make a name for ourselves and hopefully it will help us get to the point where other clubs fear Derby when they play us.”
