Derby County vs Sheffield United – Preview | OneFootball

Sheffield United will travel to Pride Park this Saturday afternoon to face a banged up Derby County team.

The Blades head into this game with a fresh mindset as they look to quickly put their shocking 3-0 defeat to Hull City past them. Before that recent defeat, United strung three wins together, scoring twice in all of them, they’ll be looking for more of the same against Paul Warne’s side.

The Rams are in a terrible place. They have a number of significant injuries to contend with, and as a result, their form has turned sour having lost six straight league games – seven in all competitions. They’ve only scored in two of their last six Championship games. As things stand, Derby sit 22nd.

Transfer Business

Derby have been active in the January transfer window in order to try and salvage their season. The Rams have splashed the cash on Norwegian forward Lars-Jorgen Salvesen from Viking FK, and they’ve also brought in experienced Championship defender Matt Clarke from Middlesbrough.

Salvesen is a target man and he’s already proven a handful for defenders in England, netting a goal on his first start for the club against Cardiff City. In his two appearances for the Rams, he has registered five shots on target, and four of those were headers.

Matt Clarke will make his Derby debut against the Blades. Clarke has proven his Championship qualities for many seasons now, both at left-back and centre-back. Clarke is good on the ball, mobile enough to carry the ball forward or to sweep up danger, and he is a solid defender.

Team News

Derby County will likely be without Nat Phillips and Kane Wilson. Towering defender Curtis Nelson will remain on the sidelines for the rest of the season after suffering a season-ending knee injury. With two centre-backs out, Matt Clarke is poised to make his debut for the Rams.

The Blades have overcome their mid-season injury crisis. They recently got Vinicius Souza and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi back. Plus, Tom Davies could be back in action either this week or next week. Gustavo Hamer will serve the last of his two-match ban.

Derby County’s Star Player For This Game

In what looked to be a decent first season back in the Championship for Derby, injuries have completely derailed their campaign.

The Rams have lost all six of their last six league games, scoring in just two of them. The only player to have seemingly shown up for Paul Warne’s team since Christmas Day is Jerry Yates. The versatile forward has bagged six goals and served up three assists this term.

Since Boxing Day, Derby have only scored four times, and Yates has contributed to three of those.

While Yates does possess a goal threat and energy, he isn’t the type of forward that can hold up the ball. However with the addition of target man Lars-Jorgen Salvesen, this could benefit Yates.

Sheffield United’s Star Player For This Game

Jesurun Rak-Sakyi slotting the ball into the back of the net, in front of the Kop end at Bramall Lane, to give Sheffield United a 3-0 lead against Oxford United. (Image Credit: Sheffield United Football Club).

Before Sheffield United’s shocking 3-0 defeat to Hull City, things did look like they were clicking in attack, scoring two goals in three straight games. And heading into this one against a depleted Derby defence, the Blades can hurt the Rams in various ways.

I expect Jesurun Rak-Sakyi to be thrown back into the starting eleven on Saturday afternoon down the right side. The Crystal Palace product has scored four times and registered two assists in 22 appearances this term.

The dynamic winger has shown his dribbling ability and pace throughout this campaign.

Rak-Sakyi has averaged 2.2 successful take-ons per 90 this term (90th percentile compared to other Championship wingers and attacking midfielders), he’s averaged 2.8 carriest into the penalty area (97th percentile), he has averaged one shot-creating actions via take-on (99th percentile). This highlights the England youth international’s incredible dribbling and ball-carrying skills at Championship level.

Additionally, he has demonstrated his excellent work-rate off the ball when it comes to tracking back and also helping out his right-back. He ranks in the top 20% of all wingers and attacking midfielders in the Championship in: blocks, tackles + interceptions, and dribblers tackled. He also ranks in the 96th percentile for tackles made in his own defensive third, further highlighting my above point.

Against a defence that has conceded 10 goals in their last five games, look for Rak-Sakyi to make an impact in this game from the off.

My Prediction

Derby County fans have every right to be worried about their form right now and where their season is trending since the Christmas period. The Rams are leaking goals (40 goals conceded this season), and while their overall number of goals conceded is mid-table standard, their opponents have scored over four more goals than expected, which is the sixth-worst in the league when it comes to goals versus expected goals.

On the flip side, they have only created an expected goals of just over 30 throughout the campaign, that is only better than Cardiff City, Oxford United and Plymouth Argyle.

I picked out Jesurun Rak-Sakyi to be the star player for the Blades in this one, and part of that plays into this stat; the home team are the second-worst performing team against counterattacks. They have given up 28 shots on fast-breaks, only above Plymouth, and they have conceded seven goals on the counter, the joint-worst with Portsmouth.

With the potential of Rak-Sakyi, Ben Brereton Diaz, Tyrese Campbell, Tom Cannon and Rhian Brewster all making appearances in some capacity this weekend, all of them should be looking at this Derby rearguard and licking their chops; there are goals to be had this weekend.

I like Paul Warne a lot, but I can’t see anything other than a comfortable Sheffield United victory on Saturday afternoon. Then again, I said the same thing about Hull City and look what happened.

All stats taken from FBref & Opta.