3/1 To Win
Derby County are back on the road this weekend as they travel south to take on Reading in their final Sky Bet Championship fixture before Christmas (3pm kick-off).
Phillip Cocu’s side will get their Christmas games programme underway against the Royals and have four league matches to play over the festive period.
dcfc.co.uk has gathered all the information you will need ahead of the meeting with Reading.
TEAM NEWS…
Krystian Bielik is in line to start for Derby this weekend after training all week.
The Polish midfielder has been troubled by a hip problem in recent weeks and has played in one of the Rams' last four matches as a result.
Striker Jack Marriott has also resumed training this week after missing last Saturday's 1-0 loss to Millwall with a minor muscle problem.
Matt Clarke (knee), Tom Huddlestone (hamstring), Mason Bennett (ankle), Graeme Shinnie (hamstring) and Ikechi Anya (calf) remain in the treatment room and out of action.
Clarke and Huddlestone are making good progress in their rehabilitation programmes and are currently stepping up their workload.
Youngsters Morgan Whittaker and Jason Knight have been in the matchday squad in recent weeks and could well feature again this weekend.
WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY…
Speaking to RamsTV ahead of the game, Phillip Cocu said: “This is the start of the Christmas period and the first game is always the most important for us,
“The first one is Reading and we will go there to try and get a result. We need it because it was unfortunate that we couldn’t get a result in the last home game, against Millwall, and we know what it means.
“We have to find a way to get a result and also believe that it is possible because we were not far off in the last few away games and I think we were quite close to getting a result.
“If
we have the right mentality and show the faith we have and have shown
before, and we have a little bit of luck, then things can change. I
think the chance of change and getting a result is bigger if we show
good character.”
He added: “We played well in the first five or ten minutes last weekend, but then we slipped away again.
“We stepped up in the second half and it confirms again that a steady performance over the 90 minutes will give you a result and not 60 or 70 minutes.
“Sometimes when you are in a good mood and everything goes your way, you can do that, but for us it is just not good enough at the moment and we really have to work for it to get the result.”
TICKET INFORMATION…
Tickets for Saturday's game at the Madejski Stadium are still available to purchase.
Derby have been allocated 1,634 tickets for this game and tickets are available to buy in advance until 4pm today from the Derby County Ticket Office.
Supporters can also buy tickets
on arrival at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday. There’s no price increase and
tickets are on sale from 1:30pm at the South Stand Ticket Office, with payment
by cash only.
Ticket prices are as follows:
Adults: £15
Seniors (65+): £10
Under 25s (18-24): £8
Under 18s (13-17): £5
Under 13s (2-12)*: £2
* Supporters aged 12 and below must be accompanied by someone aged 18 or above
A £1 per ticket booking fee will be payable for all tickets purchased online or over the phone, while a £1 per transaction delivery fee will be payable if tickets are requested to be posted.
Supporters can buy their tickets from the Ticket Office at Pride Park Stadium by calling 0871 472 1884 (option 1) ^ or online right here on dcfc.co.uk.
To become an Away Membership Holder for the 2019/20 campaign and ensure you are in line to purchase away tickets first, visit: dcfc.co.uk/toptix/memberships.
^ Calls cost 13p per minute, plus your phone company's access charge.
Club Travel
The Roadrider will depart from Pride Park Stadium at 9:30am on the day of the game.
Seats are priced as follows:
Away Members - Adults: £25 | Under-16s: £19
Non-Members - Adults: £30 | Under-16s: £23
All collections will be available from the Derby County Ticket Office presented by SeatGeek. Derby County do not offer collections from away stadiums.
WHO’S THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE…
Michael Salisbury will take charge of the game at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday.
He has handed out 44 yellow cards and seven red cards in 17 games across all competitions this season to date.
Salisbury has never taken charge of a game involving Derby County previously and this weekend's match will be his first Championship fixture of the campaign.
He will be assisted by Adrian Waters and Akil Howson on the lines, whilst Andy Woolmer has been appointed as the fourth official.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION…
Fans based outside the UK & Ireland can watch Saturday's match LIVE on RamsTV.
RamsTV’s Matchday Live show will begin from 2:30pm BST with Owen Bradley joined by former Rams Shane Nicholson and Marc Edworthy to build up to kick-off with full team news, exclusive interviews, features, stats, match clips, analysis and lively discussion.
There’ll then be LIVE HD multi-camera coverage, with instant replays and full match commentary from Owen and Shane for all the action from the Championship clash between the Rams and the Royals.
Supporters based outside of the UK and Ireland will be able to stream the game as part of their RamsTV subscription or for the one-off pay-per-view price of £5, whilst a live audio stream of the game will be available for fans based inside the UK and Ireland.
Full streaming options can be found here.
As usual, all of RamsTV’s content building up to the game, as well as all post-match reaction, will be available to watch for FREE across Derby County’s website, official app and YouTube Channel.
