3/1 To Win
Head Coach John Eustace lauded the ‘fantastic’ hard work and commitment of his squad ahead of Derby County's final eight games of the 2024/25 season - starting against Preston North End on Wednesday night.
The Rams will face Preston at Pride Park Stadium, off the back of a two-week international break, with matches and the Lilywhites’ FA Cup exploits seeing the fixture rescheduled for Wednesday night (7:45pm kick-off).
The action under the floodlights will be Derby’s first game back after they secured a trio of wins on the bounce before the March international period, including a spirited 3-2 win over Plymouth Argyle on the road in their last outing.
Eustace spoke to RamsTVto preview themidweek Sky Bet Championship action.
On feelings, looking ahead after the international break…
Everyone's really excited about the games coming up. We've had a couple of good weeks now on the training field, which has been great. We've been able to rest a few players who have needed that rest as well. It's going to be exciting. There's been some real serious work on the training field. There were certainly three or four players that needed a rest as well, because they were going through the pain barrier for the club, which was fantastic. We've been able to give them a little bit of a breather. Now everyone available is fit and ready to go.
On Erik Pieters joining the Rams’ ranks…
It's important we get as many experienced players as we can. Good people, with good characters in the group, who are going to help the squad. Erik comes with lots of experience and he's a fantastic human being – so he's going to help the group until the end of the season. He came in when Sondre Langås was injured as well, and we weren't too sure about his fitness until the end of the season. We were left short in that area. Overall, it has been a big boost.
On Wednesday night’s opponents, Preston North End…
They are a very solid Championship team with a fantastic manager and great experienced players. They know the league inside out. We know it's going to be a difficult challenge, but we're looking forward to it.
We have to take each day as it comes, each game as it comes, and focus on what we can control. The boys have been fantastic for the last five or six weeks. We've just got to continue all the hard work that we've been doing and see where it takes us.
