Derby county go into this game on the back of three straight league defeats and a fourth one will certainly put us in hot water.
We collected just four points from our last SEVEN games & we now lie 20th on the table only two points clear of the drop zone if that is not a free fall than I dont know what is, It is a dire situation indeed for the club but now is the time Nigel and the boys step up to the plate and prove themselves they need to beat birmingham by all means, a draw is simply not good enough.

We hired him because of his family’s connection with the history of the club thats for sure but on the footballing side it was a bit of a gamble only tommorow evening will he prove what he is made of. A performance like the one we had against Manchester at pride park is much needed tommorow,don’t get me wrong birmingham is a team on form at the moment and they lie 3rd on the log and have a few players that can make life difficult, but that is up to Nigel to unlock cause thats the reason he gets paid here.

There’s no news yet on the teams that will be put out tommorow but i’ll update later on as soon as it comes in.

Who would have thought this is were we would end up come january, In my mind the plan was to kick the players out derby county that really draged our great and proud club through the shit and possibly get a automatic promotion in this season back to the EPL and prove ourselves with a better and more improved squad, Yet however here we are on the brink of relegation to league one and it is now a REAL possibilty and the american owners seem to don’t give a flying bronco’s ass as long as the club make them money.

So the mission is very clear for tommorow 3Points 3Points 3Points 3Points.

fingers crossed…….

If you didn’t know already, our season ended a while ago so expect a party atmosphere at Pride Park today, especially if we beat Reading after their comments about our great club earlier this week… Let’s hope comments like that backfire big time and a “right royal shoeing” is given out.

Royal, geddit? aah, come on!

Team News:
We are still without Davis, Barnes and Mills – and if you didnt already know, both Alan Stubbs and Dean Leacock had surgery on long standing injuries this week so won’t be figuring today but will be back in time for pre-season training. Andy Todd has been told he can leave the club so it’s doubtful he will figure.

I haven’t got the team prediction right yet, so why break presidence.

Team Prediction: Carroll, McEveley, Moore, Addison, Mears, Savage, Ghaly, Lewis, Sterjovski, Earnshaw, Miller.
Sub? Who knows!: Price, Feilhaber, Beardsley, Villa, Edworthy.

See you on the flip side…. COME ON DERBY!

Highs: Newcastle United. If it wasn’t for them, we’d be 4 points worse off and in a season we’ve had, they really do all count.
Highs: Giving Manchester United a run for their money at Pride Park.
Highs: Scoring a late equaliser against Birmingham, after sitting on a train of birmingham fans ripping me about how “they’re going to get bags of goals” against us…

Now, the obvious lows (tragic losing run, getting relegated, etc, etc) have been left out – and I’ve chosen three from a raffle of 8 million to share with you.

Lows: Conceding last minute goals in numerous fixtures (Sunderland, Bolton, Liverpool, Newcastle)
but specifically Liverpool. They got out of jail and they knew it.
Lows: Missing a penalty and then conceding two goals in 2 minutes, to lose 2-1 to Blackburn.
Lows: Always being last on MOTD.

My only hope is that we at least give a good performance in front of the Arsenal fans, which includes my uncle and cousin who are travelling up for the night hoping that away goals = air miles.

Derby Team News: Edworthy has a cracked rib, Kenny Miller and Dean Leacock are ’slight’ doubts but Jewell expects the pair to be fit to play, whilst David Jones will have a late fitness test due to a calf strain picked up in training on Friday morning, all in addition to long term absentee’s Giles Barnes, Claude Davis and loaner Danny Mills…

Arsenal have a few injury problems, so Arsene Wenger will have to rely on the likes of Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner. ‘Tis truly a hard life.

Audio Links:

* Paul Jewell on BBC Radio Derby
* Adam Pearson on BBC Radio Derby

Referee: Andrew Mariner

/peace out

(Picture: “Behind you, Stephen…”)

* Mile Sterjovski and Marc Edworthy have resumed training after ankle and rib injuries respectively. Both likely to return to the 16-man squad, Sterjovski most likely to start.

* Tyrone Mears wants to go back to West Ham (the club we bought him from) and show them what they’re missing: “It is my old club and they didn’t really get to see the best of me because of injuries at the start and the way their season went. Of course, I want to try and go back and put in a good performance…” (full article here)

* Paul Jewell says the players are embarrased about the performances. So they bloody should be.

* Full Audio link here (talking about staffing changes, West Ham, and guaranteed promotion next season. Ahem…)

* I’m on a stag do, so will at least be suitably prepared for the 4.45pm. We should all only pray I don’t figure out how to blog via my mobile phone. Could be an interesting one.

See you on the other side.

Talk about 5 months being a long time in football – This was the team that faced Villa, note those who have been moved on.

Derby: Bywater, Griffin, Moore, Davis (Teale 46), McEveley, Fagan (Earnshaw 66), Oakley, Leacock, Pearson, Barnes, Howard… and Davis and Barnes are injured!

* Starting XI Prediction: Carroll, Mears, Moore, Stubbs, McEveley, Feilhaber, Ghaly, Savage, Jones, Villa, Miller.

* A guy called Damian’s Villa Blog (and comments on Derby) here

* For those who don’t already know, my £5 on Derby to win away at Everton (11/1) went the same way as our season.

* SkyBet has spoken once again: Derby Win: 9/2 Draw: 12/5 Villa Win: 4/7… First Goalscorer – Carew or Agbonlahor at 5/1 for Villa and Kenny Miller at 8/1 with Tito at 9/1 for the Rams… For the sadists among us, Derby to win 3-0 is 66/1 and Villa to win 3-0 is an alarming 10/1. Hmmm…

Other News:

* Jewell says he has “no fears over his side’s motivation” for the rest of the season”

* David Jones tells the Derby players to “Make The Most Of It“. Perhaps that should have been suggested in August, Jonah.

Roll on Saturday…. /end

Everton: With everything to play for, they’ll be looking to avoid a beating. The corresponding fixture at PPS earlier this season was once of the worst games I’ve seen in years (and I’ve seen some sh….) luckily Everton had the quality to win or else in a golden goal scenario the game could still be going.
Injuries: Van Der Meyde (been missing since he signed, if you ask me), Cahill (phew), Johnson (again, phew), Vaughn (Whatever)
Doubts: Anichebe (Shame, I was looking forward to Darren Moore chasing around after him)

Derby: Playing for something even more important than a Champions League/UEFA Cup place — Pride. Let’s not get less than 15 points, eh lads?
Injuries: Danny Mills, Claude Davies, Giles Barnes
Doubs: McEveley, Miller, Stubbs

Hoping/Expecting Derby to go 4-4-2 with 2 of Earnshaw, Villa and Miller up front. Probable XI:

Carroll,
Mears, Moore, Leacock, Lewis
Sterjovski, Savage, Ghaly, Jones
Villa, Earnshaw

Subs: (Always tricky) Price, Earnshaw, Feilhaber, Todd, Edworthy

The backbone of our team is there for next season (Carroll, Savage, Villa… hopefully can add Ghaly and Mears and an exclusive other few to that)… Everton are a great example of what you can do with a patient board/owner, a good manager and a good fan base. Derby County may be a million miles away from Everton in terms of points but aren’t lacking in much else. Here’s hoping, anyway… See you on the other side… /end

Team news: Derby are expected to be without Alan Stubbs, in addition to the already injured Giles Barnes, Claude Davis, Danny Mills and Tyrone Mears (see pic below of the metal rod in his shin)…

Anyway, I won’t be at the home game against Fulham on Saturday. I haven’t got a doctors note or anything – ironically I’m in the big smoke. If only Derby were away at Fulham, I could have gone (because our away form is soooooo much better (!)).

The only home game I’ve missed so far was our 5-0 shoeing from what my friends called “West Ham’s reserves” in October. Strangely, nothing would make me happier than to hear my beloved Rams have won for the first time since 1923 yet at the same time I’d feel an element of jealously for missing it, as it really doesn’t happen that often.

Perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. Maybe I should start out small… like hoping we don’t concede 3… or hoping that we score… or even keep a clean sheet. Egads.

That said, this game is very winnable and Fulham fans might not admit it but deep down they know they might get turned over.

SkyBet have the first goal scorer to be McBride at 6/1 and then Miller at 7/1 …also worth noting that “no scorer” is 8/1… Thank you very bloody much, Sky.

Derby To Win: 13/8, Draw: 11/5, Fulham To Win: 11/8 … I’ll have a fiver on Andy Todd to score (12/1) for Derby, please!

There are also doubts over keeper Roy Carroll, midfielder Stephen Pearson and winger Mile Sterjovski… so that’s up to 8 first team players out. But worry not Derby fans, Paul Jewell has a secret weapon if Carroll doesn’t recover from his groin strain. I know you’re probably thinking it’ll be Deputy Lewis Price but you’d be wrong…. Remember, you heard it here first: