It looks set to be a rather interesting end to the season for all concerned with Derby County, with a potential push for the play-offs on the cards for the Rams.

It has been a season full of twists and turns for Derby, with Phillip Cocu having to deal with a whole load of issues both on and off the pitch in his first season at the helm.

But in this long, old Championship campaign, Derby have seemingly come through it really well indeed, sitting only five points off the play-offs with nine matches remaining.

Impressive wins over Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn Rovers have seen them climb to 12th in the Championship, and in a league where anybody can beat anybody, they have a chance of reaching the top-six.

Chris Martin was influential in both of those wins, setting up all three goals in the 3-1 win over Wednesday, and netting a brace in the 3-0 victory over Rovers on Sunday afternoon.

Martin was brought in from the cold in early September after it looked as if his Derby future was over, following disappointing loan spells with Reading and Hull City.

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But the striker deserves a huge amount of credit for the strides he's made under Cocu, establishing himself as one of the Rams' most influential players in their bid for a top-six finish.

With his contract at Pride Park set to expire in the summer, we take a lot at Martin's season so far to see whether he deserves a new deal...

Realistically, Derby only have three good years left of Martin with the forward turning 32 in November, but offering him a new contract is looking like a no-brainer given his recent performances for the club.

First of all, goals. Martin has found the net 10 times in all competitions this season - this, compared to the four goals he scored across the previous two campaigns, is a massive improvement.

Nine of those goals have come in the Championship, and he is currently second in the goalscoring charts behind Martyn Waghorn, who has found the net 12 times this term.

Martin's physical prowess and aerial threat makes him a very useful option for Derby - his hold-up play is impressive, and this allows the Rams to use him as a focal point and bring others into play.

The striker has registered six assists this term which is an impressive statistic in itself, as it's more than anyone else in the Derby squad at present.

Three of those assists came against Wednesday, where he showed real strength, work-rate, determination and composure to thread some excellent passes into dangerous areas.

In fact, Martin's pass accuracy has been impressive this term, accruing a rate of 76.2% across 1757 minutes of football. As alluded to before, Martin's aerial threat is impressive, with the striker winning 158 duels in the air this season - an average of over five per game.

Perhaps one aspect of the game that Martin will look to improve is his shooting accuracy, with less than half of his shots flying off target, but that's hardly something to focus on too much given that he's hit double figures this term.

Having contributed to more goals than anyone else in the squad, that alone shows just how much Martin has improved under Cocu, which makes it all the more baffling that he's not yet been given a new deal.

With games getting ticked off and time running out this season, Derby need to agree fresh terms as soon as possible.