EFL pundit highlights Derby County strength that puts them ahead of Bolton Wanderers

Derby County find themselves locked into a tight battle with Bolton Wanderers as both sides are targeting automatic promotion.

The Rams currently have the points advantage with a four point lead, however as Bolton Wanderers have a game in hand, that could reduce to just one.

Paul Warne’s side are slightly ahead of Bolton due to a good spell of form over winter where the Rams won 18 out of 25 games over four months.

But why have the Rams been able to edge a Bolton side that have scored more goals and lost fewer matches?

EFL pundit Ali Maxwell believes that Paul Warne has done a great job in making sure that his side make the most of their set pieces.

On an episode of the Not the Top 20 podcast, Ali Maxwell said: “Derby County have the best set piece goal difference in the EFL.”

That was even before last weekend when the Rams netted three times all from corners against Leyton Orient which adds to the tally even more.

He added: “When you boil down the fact they’re on 86 points and Bolton are on 82 points; the difference in how efficient they’ve been from those situations is a massive factor.

“For that Conor Hourihane’s left foot is the stuff of dreams.”

It is no suprise that Maxwell singled out Rams’ captain Conor Hourihane as his biggest strength since joining Derby has been his delivery into the box.

The 33 year-old gets a fair amount of criticism from fans and pundits for losing the ball freqeuntly, however Derby’s success from corners especially relies upon the Irishman heavily.

Last season, Derby struggled a lot to score from set pieces, but credit has to go to Paul Warne who emphasised his desire to improve in those scenarios, he has certainly achieved that.

There’s every chance that the Rams score from a set piece to finally earn that illustrious promotion.