Unlike most top-half Championship sides like Newcastle United, Brighton and Leeds United, Steve McClaren decided to go full throttle against a struggling Leicester City and have consequently earned a replay while others crashed out of the tournament.
The Rams face Ipswich Town next in the midweek and will be without two key players in Scott Carson and Will Hughes, who suffered injuries in the weekend. However, Derby are still the favourites to edge out Ipswich Town with their in-form squad.
Defence
McClaren is expected to have a little-changed back line against Ipswich Town. Scott Carson started the FA Cup 4th Round tie against Leicester City and has incurred a knock. We expect John Mitchell to start under the bar this time. Mitchell has appeared seven times for the Rams this season, conceding 11 goals and it will undoubtedly be a concern for the manager.
The main back four of Olsson, Keogh, Pearce and Baird started against Foxes and we expect two changes this time. Jason Shackell remained unused on the bench in the weekend and should replace Alex Pearce in the centre-half position. Chris Baird is likely to give way to Cyrus Christie in the right-back position. Marcus Olsson and skipper Richard Keogh are likely to retain their position in the backline.
Midfield
The Middlesbrough loanee Julien de Sart is expected to start in the deep midfield after the manager chose not to use him against Leicester. The Belgian international has been quite impressive since his debut against West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup 3rd round.
Will Hughes pulled a hamstring during the combative fixture and was replaced by Jacob Butterfield with half-an-hour to go. A return date for the English midfielder is not yet known and we don’t think he could make it for the midweek’s game against Ipswich Town. We expect Bradley Johnson to take his place in the midfield alongside Craig Bryson. Johnson has scored twice and registered one assist from the midfield this season and McClaren has a calm and composed leader in him.
The Scotland international, Bryson, put Derby in the lead right before the first half and the manager will hope he continues to keep his touch.
Attack
For a team, who have often been criticised for their lack of scoring in the Championship this season, Derby did really well to put two past defending Premier League champions. And we don’t expect McClaren to change much against Ipswich Town.
Tom Ince has been quite effective for the Rams so far, scoring 10 goals from the right wing. He is expected to retain his place. Johnny Russell started the game on the left wing and played almost the full game. He is expected to once again take his place there.
Darren Bent started the game quite nightmarishly with an own goal before he made amends for it by scoring the equaliser soon after. He will take his place up front.
