Burton Albion welcome Derby County to the Pirelli Stadium on Saturday, who are a side that also suffered a 2-0 defeat to Blackpool this week. This exact fixture last year ended in a 1-1 draw, with poor finishing letting down both sides. Derby were the favourites on that day just like they are this weekend.
Burton Albion
As mentioned, the Brewers started their League One campaign off with a 2-0 defeat against Blackpool, where they struggled to get a foothold in the game despite having 10 attempts at goal. Burton never really got out of first gear and their performance matched their status as the underdog. Dino Maamria’s side saw themselves 2-0 down at half time due to a Shayne Lavery brace and although they did increase their attacking output in the second half, they didn’t have enough firepower to cause much of an issue.
Burton will be in for another tough task against Derby, who will aspire to be in the Championship next season. The Brewers will have to maintain concentration throughout the game as Derby will no doubt dominate the ball and enjoy the majority of the attacking play. Number nine, Cole Stockton, would have had a huge role to play and the Burton faithful would have hoped to see him display a performance that mirrors his end of season form at Morecambe, however he picked up an injury in the midweek EFL Cup fixture.
Derby County
Derby County will be disappointed to have lost 2-1 at home to Wigan Athletic in their opening game of the season, especially considering their performance was arguably good enough to pick up all three points. Charlie Wyke opened the scoring for the visitors in the first half, which was rather end-to-end. In the second half, Craig Forsyth equalised just before the hour mark and at that point, it looked like Derby would eventually go on to win the game. However, Wyke struck again before the 80th minute and became the match winner, halting all of the Rams’ momentum.
Paul Warne will hope for a similar performance to last weekend, but with a more positive result and it is fair to say that the performance against Wigan, would have been enough to beat Burton. Derby will have large spells in possession and the onus will fall on their creative players to provide a spark, but they must also be aware of the counter attacking threat of the Brewers. Conor Hourihane will take on most of that creative responsibility, he registered 7 key passes last week.
Verdict?
Derby County will be desperate to put last week’s defeat behind them and register a win this time around. Burton Albion are in a similar position, but their tough start to the campaign will continue at the weekend. The Rams should have enough quality to claim the victory.
The final prediction is Burton Albion 1-3 Derby County.
