Derby County may be hoping to rest some of their players this midweek as they face Mansfield Town in the Carabao Cup tomorrow night.

The Rams will be looking to bounce back following their 1-0 defeat against Charlton Athletic at the weekend, a loss that will be particularly difficult to take considering they had chances to take a least a point away from The Valley.

One positive for Liam Rosenior's side is the fact they had plenty of positives to take from that performance against the Addicks and had managed to secure a victory against Oxford United on the opening day.

 

 

This victory against Karl Robinson's side means they are still in reasonably decent shape in the league - but they will need to turn their attention away from the third tier for now ahead of tomorrow's tie at Mansfield.

Nigel Clough's side will be looking to cause an upset and certainly have the ability to do so considering their performances last term, managing to get themselves to the play-off final before being outclassed by Port Vale at Wembley.

Who will be tasked with stopping the Stags though? We have picked the first 11 Rosenior may choose for this tie in Nottinghamshire as the Rams prepare to make this short trip.

In goal, Scott Loach gets a chance to prove himself as he potentially looks to climb above Joe Wildsmith in the pecking order, though it remains to be seen whether he's even part of the matchday squad by the time the transfer window closes with another shot-stopper potentially coming in.

On the left, Craig Forsyth deserves the opportunity to push Haydon Roberts for a starting spot, with Kwaku Oduroh replacing Jason Knight on the right as he looks to get as much game time under his belt as possible.

Richard Stearman, meanwhile, comes in to give Curtis Davies a rest and youngster Eiran Cashin has another opportunity to impress with James Chester potentially still out injured at this stage.

Max Bird is someone that could definitely benefit from spending tomorrow evening on the sidelines after struggling against Charlton, with Conor Hourihane remaining in the starting lineup to provide a young side with an experienced head and Liam Thompson replacing bird.

Lewis Dobbin will probably win his first start for the East Midlands outfit if he's 100% fully fit and this could also be an extremely important game for Louie Sibley, who won't want to be sat on the bench in League One for the remainder of the 2022/23 campaign.

David McGoldrick seems like he's making good progress in his quest to recover from an injury and with that, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him slot in behind youngster Bart Cybulski, with their lack of forwards giving the Poland youth international a chance to impress.