Derby County boss Phillip Cocu has revealed that he hopes to have Jack Marriott available for selection against Wigan on Saturday.

The striker has missed the last three games through injury and his absence was felt as the Rams fell to a poor 3-0 defeat at Charlton Athletic yesterday.

Therefore, bringing the ex-Peterborough man back into the XI would be welcome by many and Cocu told Derbyshire Live that he thinks he will be involved against the Latics at Pride Park.

"He could be available. The risk (to involve him at Charlton) after one training session was too big, and even the session we had was only set pieces and finishing, and sprinting.

"Hopefully he can join the team in preparation for the game on Wednesday and, if everything goes well he might be available."

Having said that, Marriott has only scored once from eight games so far this season.

[freshpress-poll ]

The poor result at The Valley ended Derby's five game unbeaten run and it leaves Cocu's men languishing in the bottom half and six points away from the play-offs.

However, they will fancy their chances against a Wigan side that are yet to win on the road this season.

The verdict

This is good news for Derby as even though Marriott hasn't been a regular all season, he gives the team something different when he plays.

He is a constant threat in behind, can sniff out chances and most importantly he scores goals when he is given a run.

So, Cocu will be delighted to have him back in contention and it will be interesting to see if he goes straight into the XI because he will need to shake things up after the poor result in the capital.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.