Derby v Sheffield United preview

After all the excitement of England qualifying for the World Cup its back to league action and Derby are kicking off early against Sheffield United at Pride Park. So a 1 oclock kick off will give Derby an early chance to extend their unbeaten home run to 3 out of 3, but this will be Michael Ojemudia Jersey the toughest test so far. Sheffield United are a strong side, they have added to the squad that got them to the play-off final last year and are a good bet for a play-off spotso its a good test to see how good Derby actually are. Things have improved under Nigel Clough but how much? This weekend will give us John Brown Jersey a good indication.Derby will be without Steven Davies for this game but other players have returned to full fitne s so for the first time this season Nigel Clough should be able to select his strongest XI. With this full squad the starting line up I would like to see would be in a 4-4-1-1 formationBywaterConnolly, Barker, Addison, MoxeyCroft, Savage, Green, TealeCommonsHulseBench Hendrie, Kareem Jackson Jersey Dickov, Buxton, Pringle, Pearson, Deeney, McEveleyI have a suspicion that Clough will play Pearson instead of Commons and Buxton instead of Barker but hope that he doesnt and the strongest starting XI we have starts the game.There must be a huge temptation to start with Hendrie, especially as its against his former club but hopefully Clough will leave him on the bench and bring him on in the second half to hopefully score the winner!So who are the players to watch out for on the Sheffield United team?Ched Evans former Manchester City striker has started well at his new club scoring 2 goals in 4 games, the 3million Welsh international will be someone for Derbys centre halves to watch out for Mike Boone Jersey .James Harper a very recent signing by United, Harper has arrived on loan from Reading until the end of the season. Harper has always been an energetic midfielder and performed particularly well during Readings march to the Championship title in the 2005/06 season.Paddy Kenny hell be sat in the stands no doubt eating a pie as he cant play for 9 months due to a drugs ban. Kenny was given his suspension earlier this week for testing positive for ephedrine following Uniteds play off semi final against Preston last season.I have a sneaky suspicion that Derby will be able to grab a victory, and Steve Atwater Jersey the omens are on Derbys side, last season the Sheffield United was the game that gave us our first win, and it came a couple of days after England beat Croatia, so hopefully we can continue our unbeaten run at home by taking all three points.
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