“Average at best”: Derby County face Northampton Town in crucial clash for Rams

Derby County find themselves in a sort of no-mans land between mid table mediocrity and a playoff calibre team, making every game at the moment crucial.

The Rams have struggled to find consistent form and will need to go on a run in order to move up into the playoff places.

Paul Warne has recently been backed by the owners but there is a lot of noise in the fanbase surrounding his job security at the moment.

His side sit in ninth place and five points off the playoffs as they come off the back of a dissapointing 3-1 loss away to Stevenage at the weekend.

With that in mind, the Rams will be desperate to get back to winning ways as they face a struggling Northampton side.

‘Average at best’

Northampton Town were promoted to League One last season as they finished third in League Two.

So far this season, they have only really been average at best as they sit precariously above the relegation zone in 20th place.

Jon Brady’s side have won four games out of 14 and have only won one game in the last five matches. Last time out they lost 2-1 to Bristol Rovers.

Their star man comes in the form of attacker Sam Hoskins who has been their talisman over the past few seasons. The 30-year-old has scored eight goals and recorded one assist so far this season.

Hoskins has been at Northampton since 2015 making over 300 appearances and scoring 74 goals. He’ll most likely face up against the experienced Craig Forsyth tonight which could make for a good matchup seeing as the 34-year-old Ram has been solid defensivley so far this season.

Last time out

The two sides have only met twice since the 1960s and both of them came in the same FA Cup campaign back in 2020. The first game was a 0-0 draw resulting in an entertaining replay in which the Rams won 4-2 at Pride Park.

Paul Warne’s side will be hoping for a similar result this time round.

Predictions

On paper, it isn’t set up to be the most classic of matchups. Both sides have decent scoring and defensive numbers with the Rams just that bit better off.

So, looking at that and the fact that Northampton have only won one game in their last five, Derby really should have the advantage.

Look for Nathaniel Mendez-Laing to have another strong game as he has scored two goals in his last two games and looks to be really finding his form.

It’s likely that the Pride Park faithful will be impatient because of the lacklustre start to the season so the Rams will need to score early if they are to get the fans on side.

There’s a lot of pressure on Paul Warne and his players to get a result tonight.

How to watch Derby County vs Northampton Town

Tonight’s game has been selected for viewing on Sky Sports Football kicking off at 7:45pm.

Alternativley, Rams TV will be broadcasting the game for international subscribers and viewers in the UK will be able to watch with a £10 pay-per-view.

Furthemore, audio commentary will also be available via BBC Radio Derby.