Carlisle United host Derby County at Brunton Park this Saturday in an important League One clash. Both sides sit in the bottom half of the table, so a haul of three points will be extremely important.
Carlisle currently sit 18th in League One after eight games. With just one win, four draws and three losses, The Blues have just seven points. This means Carlisle are just two points away from the relegation zone.
In their last five games in all competitions Carlisle have two wins, two draws and one loss. James Wilson’s penalty in the second half was the only goal of the game in Port Vale’s 1 - 0 win over Carlisle. The one win for Carlisle in this period was against Shrewsbury. An own goal from Tom Bayliss and a 96th minute goal from Joe Garner gave The Blues the 2 - 0 win.
Carlisle faced Accrington Stanley in the Football League Trophy. An own goal from Carlisle’s Corey Whelan was the only goal of the game as Accrington won 1 - 0. Sean Maguire and Joe Garner were both on the scoresheet in the 2 - 2 draw with Stevenage with Jamie Reid bagging a brace in the draw.
The last time out for Carlisle was against Lincoln City. Luke Plange scored in the first half for Carlisle but Ethan Hamilton equalised for Lincoln as the game finished 1 - 1.
Derby County, on the other hand, sit 12th after seven games. The Rams have three wins, one draw, three losses and ten points. However, this leaves them closer to the relegation zone than top of the league.
In their last five games in all competitions, Derby have three wins, a draw and one loss. Martyn Waghorn scored the only goal of the game against Fleetwood in the first half as Derby won 1 - 0. Waghorn was on the scoresheet yet again against Peterborough, this time he picked up a hat-trick and was joined in scoring by Eiran Cashin as The Rams won 4 - 2, Jonson Clarke-Harris and Kwame Poku scoring for Peterborough.
Conor Hourihane opened the scoring against Bolton with his penalty in the first half, however, before halftime, Dion Charles converted a penalty for Bolton to level the game. Joe Wildsmith was sent off early on in the second half and a goal from Josh Dacres-Cogley gave Bolton the 2 - 1 win. James Collins converted his penalty in the 86th minute against Portsmouth, The Rams hoping it would be enough for a win, but a goal from Colby Bishop in the 95th minute levelled the game at 1 - 1 as each team took a point.
The last time out for Derby was in the Football League Trophy against Lincoln City. Tom Barkhuizen and Louie Sibley both scored in the second half as The Rams won 2 - 0.
Carlisle and Derby have met just 22 times despite their first meeting coming all the way back in 1955. Nothing separates the two sides with both Carlisle and Derby having eight wins in the fixture with the other six meetings ending in a draw. This weekend will also be the first meeting since 2016 and the first meeting in the league since 1984.