3/1 To Win
Following impressive results in their last two games, central defender Richard Keogh is aiming to finish the week strong as they head to the Riverside on Saturday to face Middlesbrough.
After beating Sheffield United on Saturday, the Rams cast aside West Bromwich Albion 1-4 on Wednesday night courtesy of goals from Jack Marriott, Tom Lawrence, Harry Wilson and Scott Malone.
That took Frank Lampard’s side two points off the top of the table and a win on Saturday could place Derby at the summit of the Sky Bet Championship for a small period.
Middlesbrough, however, boast the strongest defence in the league, having only conceded seven in all competitions and Keogh knows this weekend’s clash against an in-form Boro side will be a tough one.
“I have worked with Tony before when I was a young lad coming through at Stoke so I know how his teams like to play and what he is like as a manager and a person,” Keogh told RamsTV.
“Middlesbrough are a good team, they have good quality in there and they don’t like conceding too many goals with the way they play so it’s going to be a big challenge for us.
“We are going to go out there and do the things that have got us the last two results especially. We know it’s going to be a tough because it’s a quick turnaround and the schedule has not been kind to us but it’s the way it falls sometimes.
“We will recover well and get ourselves up for it. These are the games that you want to play in and it’s against a team that are around the top of the league again so let’s go out there and play our way and see how we get on.”
The Rams have enjoyed some successful trips to the Riverside in previous seasons. Last season was a memorable one for Keogh. “To go up there and come away with the 0-3 victory and Vydra getting the hat-trick, it gave us a lot of confidence that we could do something good,” he said.
“It was a standout performance last season and it was good to win so convincingly in the end, but we have played there many times and they have always been a tough team to play against. Even since I’ve been at the club, we’ve always had good games against them home and away.
“We are looking forward to the challenge, it’s another one for us and it’s great. It’s thick and fast in the Championship and I think the league is so tight this season. Down to 13th there is only six points between the top and nobody has run away with it.
“It’s a tight league, but an open one for any team this season. It’s exciting to be in it and we have as good a chance as anyone else if we carry on playing like we are playing and keep getting better, like I know we can, and it’s going to be an exciting season I think.”
The Rams are in-form at the moment but Keogh is keen not to rest on his laurels and believes there is still a lot of work to do.
“We’re in a really good place but like the manager said after the game against West Brom, there are still aspects of the game we can improve on,” he explained. “We won’t get carried away because we’ve been through this before, especially this season when we’ve had a few bumps already. We just need to get as good as we can at our game and see what happens.
“It was a good night but we’ve got a quick turnaround now so we need to make sure we recover and go to Middlesbrough and put in a good performance hopefully.”
