Derby County have let their promotion push slip recently, they've managed just one win in ten matches which has seen them slide out of the automatic promotion race.

The 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest this weekend was eighth draw of 2018, an alarming statistic that has resulted in them being just four points clear of seventh placed Bristol City.

Defender Curtis Davies has been speaking to their official club website, urging the side to start grabbing the points they need to assure they're involved in the play offs at the end of the season.

"We need to make sure we stay in the play-off places because it’s not a given that we’ll finish in there. There are nine games to go this season and we need to make sure we start winning games to stay in the top-six."

The Rams face Cardiff City this Sunday in a huge top of the table clash, before bottom side Sunderland visit a week on Good Friday. With Wolves, Middlesbrough and Aston Villa all left to play this season, they face a tough two months.

"We’ve not been winning games enough lately and we know that. We had a similar spell when I was at Hull two years ago, we had a difficult run and then came strongly towards the end of the season before going up via the play-offs. Hopefully we can do something similar now; we certainly have an experienced squad.”

32-year old Davies joined Derby from Hull in the summer on a two-year deal. He was once valued at £8m, Aston Villa paying that amount to West Brom for his services in 2008.

The Verdict

Derby are on a rotten run of form at the moment and with Cardiff next up at Pride Park, I wouldn't bet on that ending this weekend. They should have enough in the tank to take them over the line in a top six position, but I'm not sure they have the quality to negotiate a two-legged tie against any of the other play off hopefuls.