Derby County Specials 21/22

It's been utter hell for Derby County fans who have now faced a second points deduction in the Championship to now leave them on one point despite picking up 22 from games, which would, in another scenario, leave them in 19th place and out of the relegation zone.

Now, however, Wayne Rooney's men need to find 20+ points over the next five months of league action or face relegation into League One. In reality, most fans seem to be aware of this already and the lack of attendance at home games and the lack of fight in some areas speaks a thousand words.

It's important to remember they do still have four wins and 10 draw, which equals 22 points, which would put them level on points with Hull City and moving them up to 19th as a result. They've also scored 17 goals, the same as 19th-placed Hull, and let in only 21 in 21 which is quite astonishingly, the second-best defensive record in the league.

All in all, it's been an excellent job by Rooney and the league table means nothing after that points deduction, and he would be otherwise keeping them safe for yet another year.

Newcastle United have finally got their first win of the season following seven draws and seven defeats which kept them at the bottom of the table and all but doomed for the Championship at one point. However, following a catastrophic start to their must-not-lose clash with Norwich City, the Magpies earned a point, which in the circumstances, was not the worst.

A week later in another must-not-lose battle, the club met with Burnley where Callum Wilson turned out to be their hero once more and got their first three points of the campaign. All in all, we're still yet to see what we are going to get under Eddie Howe, as one win doesn't really say that much, especially in the narrow margin in which it arrived; a hard-fought 1-0 win over a fellow relegation fighter.

A lot could change in January, however, with the Magpies expected to make some signings following their new extreme wealth. Financial Fair Play will prevent some of the cash spend, while it's near enough impossible to attract big-name players when you're fighting relegation and doing so in a January transfer window where not much actually happens.

Howe has also already been relegated, and in fact, was so in his last season in the Premier League with Bournemouth. In reality, we're still not sold on Newcastle, but Howe knows what he's doing and as long as Allan Saint-Maximin and Wilson stay fit, they should be alright, as these two are certainly players worthy of the top half and not relegation.

Oddly enough, despite the league table stating otherwise and actually favouring Norwich City more in the form department, the Canaries to go down at the same time of the Rams is more than double the price of that of Newcastle to be relegated into the Championship as Norwich and Derby to go down is 33/1.

Currently, there has been a slight revival under Dean Smith who joined the club following the bizarre departure of Daniel Farke. It was strange in the sense that when they finally got their first win of the season after failing to win every game until the eighth clash of the season, Farke was dismissed almost immediately after the game.

In came Smith, who managed to win his first game in charge after the international break, meaning Norwich made it two in two by beating Brentford and Southampton. A decent draw with wolves would follow, and a further draw with relegation rivals Newcastle would come too. However, they probably should have won that game given the Magpies had 10 men for more than 80 minutes of the match.

They were recently smashed by Spurs 3-0, and have consequently returned to the root of the table with a torrid extra -10 goals leaving them behind on goal difference. Norwich can still survive, but Leeds' upswing in form and the experience of Burnley in these situations doesn't bode well, but with Smith on their side, you'd back them ahead of Newcastle in more ways than one.

When he stayed up with Aston Villa, however, he had the brilliance of Jack Grealish. Here he has only Teemu Pukki and Todd Cantwell, but if these to stay fit and the Finland international gets some goals, they could well be on for survival. Either way, they need to hope Burnley, Southampton, and Leeds begin to drop points.