3/1 To Win
Derby County welcome Bristol City to Pride Park Stadium on Friday night, with their form having taken a turn for the better since the last meeting with Lee Johnson’s side.
Despite going in front at Ashton Gate back in September, the Rams were soundly beaten 4-1 with all of the Robins’ goals coming in the second half.
Since that day, Gary Rowett’s side has lost just two of their 20 league games, having been beaten in three of their first seven in the Sky Bet Championship this season.
Rowett is reluctant to highlight that particular game as a turning point in Derby’s season, but gave an insight into the aftermath of what was a disappointing defeat.
Speaking to RamsTV, he said: “Maybe some of the players felt that after that result they would have to work a little bit harder.
“We spoke quite frankly after the game and some of the players gave their views on some of the issues that they felt were a problem over the years.
“I don’t think we played any poorer in that game than we did in some of the games that we’ve won 3-0, but we have shown a tad more belief and a little bit more togetherness.”
One of those games that was won by three goals was against Birmingham City at St Andrew’s last Saturday, and the Rams were backed by 3,500 vocal travelling supporters.
The boss wants a similar atmosphere under the lights at Pride Park on Friday against a team that have exceeded expectations so far this season.
Rowett said: “The fans travel to have a fun day out so you can understand why they’re on song, and on the whole, they’ve been fantastic.
“We need our fans to get behind us, we’re all working towards the same thing, we want success and we all need to be working hard as one to try and achieve that.
“It’s a crucial game for both sides on Friday, Lee Johnson has done a fantastic job this season and they should be applauded as a young team in this division that have kept a high standard.”
Cameron Jerome joined on Tuesday and has spent the last two days training with his new teammates, and after trying to sign the striker in the summer, he is pleased to finally have him on board.
He added: “We think that he will fit our style of play and some of the characteristics that you want, I think we always look at teams that play in a different way.
“Norwich want a lot of build-up play, he’s been coming short an awful lot and I don’t think that is particularly his strength, so we have to look at ways that he might fit in to our style.
“He’s been promoted three times, so there is obvious knowledge of the standards that it takes to get out of this division so he will hopefully fit in seamlessly to the dynamic of our team.
“He’s one that we looked at in the summer and he’s given us a good option up-front but we probably have too many options at the moment, but we would anticipate that some of those are going to move on.”
