Nottingham Forest take on Derby County this afternoon looking to push the Rams closer to League One.
Both teams are in superb form, however, and today promises to be an absolute cracker of a contest.
During the last 10 games both Derby and Forest have taken 18 points and Wayne Rooney has got his team adopting a siege mentality.
That said, Forest are a different animal under Steve Cooper. The Reds were feeble in a 1-1 draw against the Rams back in August and Derby can expect a different challenge today.
Ahead of today’s game, we looked at how the Reds could line up for their latest Championship clash.
The Forest rearguard
Brice Samba is firmly established as the team’s number one goalkeeper and is on the back of two successive clean sheets.
Cooper looks likely to go with a three-man defence.
Steve Cook has been excellent in the two games he’s played so far and will keep his place against Derby.
Joe Worrall has taken a knock but he should be fit to start on the right of the three, with Scott McKenna on the left-hand side.
The Forest engine room and wing-backs
Ryan Yates was excellent at Millwall last week and alongside James Garner, the pair have struck up a strong partnership.
Cafu and Braian Ojeda will provide options from the bench.
Djed Spence has been a standout in the Championship this season. He didn’t play in the return game against Derby and he could be instrumental today.
On the left, Jack Colback pocketed Bukayo Saka recently and he could be tasked with keeping things neat and tidy this afternoon.
Leading the Forest line
Lewis Grabban popped up with goal number 12 last week for the 2021/22 campaign. He will almost certainly start for the Reds in attack this weekend.
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There could be a change just behind him. As good as Keinan Davis was at Millwall he hasn’t played a deal of football lately and Philip Zinckernagel could return to the starting line-up.
Brennan Johnson has 10 goal contributions this season and he will almost certainly start.
Here is how the Forest team could look against Derby:
