3/1 To Win
Gary Rowett has challenged Derby County to back up their solid away form with a return to winning ways at Pride Park Stadium against Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday night.
The 1-1 draw against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday made it five games unbeaten on the road for the Rams, their best such run since October 2015.
Ahead of the visit from Ian Holloway’s side, Rowett warned that the improvement away from home will count for nothing if Derby don’t pick up the points in front of their own fans.
He told RamsTV: “When you’re putting in such good work away from home, you need to capitalize by winning your home games, and we’ve got three home games coming up that we can be incredibly competitive in.
“We were feeling very confident about what we’ve been doing at home and I don’t think that the last game against Reading should change that mindset.
“If we can continue the progress that we’ve been making at home, that then adds significant magnitude to the away performances.”
The boss has highlighted the upcoming run of fixtures as a ‘crucial’ time in the season as the Rams face four games in the space of 12 days, including the rearranged meeting with Ipswich Town which will bring Derby level with the rest of the league in terms of games played.
Rowett said: “With a game in hand, we knew that this period would be a crucial one, we’re leading up to the turn of the year and it’s important that we continue to build.
“If we win our game in hand then we can go up to fifth, so I’m pretty happy with where we are.”
