Derby vs Bristol City Preview & Prediction
TEAM NEWS
DERBY
Predicted lineup (4-2-3-1): Roos; Lowe, Keogh, Clarke, Malone; Huddlestone, Evans; Josefzoon, Dowell, Lawrence; Waghorn
Not Available: Wisdom (Injured), Forsyth (Injured), Thorne (Injured), Bogle (Injured)
Doubtful: Holmes (injured)
CITY OF BRISTOL
Predicted lineup (3-4-3): Bentley; Moore, Kalas, Baker; Pedro Pereira, Brownhill, Massengo, Rowe; Weimann, Afobe, Palmer
Not available: Smith (Injured), Dasilva (Injured), Watkins (Injured), Wright (Injured)
Doubtful: Nagy (injured)
Forecast
The derby heading into midweek is still unbeaten and with five points on their behalf, but Phillip Cocu will hope for improved performance after watching the Stoke team who at that time useless beat the Rams 19-8.
Bristol City sealed a comfortable 2-0 home win against Mark Warburton QPR at the weekend. The result was Robin's first win of the season and lifted them to 11th place.
BETTING TIPS CITY DERBY VS BRISTOL
Derby boss Phillip Cocu had solid results in his first set of matches. He won two and drew two of his opening four games in charge at Pride Park, with the 2-2 draw on Saturday at Stoke showing signs of real progress. However, the Rams haven't won at home under their new boss after he drew 0-0 against Swansea. With the two compact sides displayed here, we predict there will be other matches close by, so we think the goal will be a little available at Pride Park this week.
The Rams can be happy with their start and they have the prospect of Wayne Rooney to look forward to in January as well. The former England captain is expected to kick them, but they must be in the top six before the striker arrives. With many key Rams players on loan, there is little rebuilding that Cocu has to do, but for the most part, he seems to have formed a solid back line along with a proprietary style of play. They have 52% of the ball in their opening three games, while they have limited clear opponents' chances - conceding only 6% of the shots they face.
Bristol City can expect a difficult time at Pride Park, but their seven matches run without a win on this ground means they must know the task at hand here. While they will aim to follow up on their first win of the season against QPR at the weekend, it's hard to see Lee Johnson's team win with a win here. After all, they failed to win in five of the visits of the top six teams in the league last season.
The hosts have kept two clean sheets in their last three matches, while they only sent 0.87 goals per game at home last season. Cocu's reputation as manager came from building a formidable team to beat in a typical Dutch style, with ownership and structure that were crucial to the former PSV boss. He tends to prioritize that in their home games, while he does not want to give too much against Robins who can be seen as serious promotional rivals this season.
While Bristol City won the council, we are not entirely sure that they are in their best condition. They did produce an improved defense display at the weekend, which should prove useful in games like this. Last season the visitors saw under 2.5 goals in 61% of their away matches, while they have seen it land behind the back-to-back Championship clashes this season. Overall, six of their last eight league matches have seen fewer than three goals, so we support under 2.5 in their visit to Derby.
