Every game in the Sky Bet Championship poses its own challenges and manager Frank Lampard knows this afternoon’s game against Rotherham United will be less than straight-forward for his Derby County side.


Unbeaten in their last three games, with a win and two draws to their name, the Rams head into today’s clash just one point behind Aston Villa in sixth position.

A win could see Lampard’s side jump above Preston North End, who travel to Reading, and Villa, who host Blackburn Rovers, but the manager is wary of Rotherham, who are fighting for their lives as they battle to survive relegation from the division.

“It is a difficult game and it shouldn’t be taken lightly, as no game should be in the Championship,” Lampard told RamsTV.

“Having watched a lot of Rotherham and playing them earlier in the season and lost, I know that they fight, I know that they are very well organised, and they have players that can hurt us.

“They will come here and try to frustrate us here without a doubt. Again that is on us. The last game we played against Stoke, when we drew 0-0, I thought we were really good and the icing on the cake is getting more opportunities and taking them.

“We have been working on that a lot this week and hopefully we can bring that to this game. The fans will get behind us. We were at the Fans Forum earlier this week and the atmosphere and the positivity amongst fans was great and we need that.

“I have spoken about that this year in terms of positive and negative feelings around the club and we have to be really positive now. This was always going to be a difficult year because the Championship is every year and we are in a little bit of a transition, we know that.

“The players are giving everything and the fans are giving everything. They will be behind us and it is up to us as a team to perform in the right way to give them something to shout and cheer about.”