Derby County are having to prepare for the biggest game of their whole season on Sunday as they welcome fellow strugglers Sheffield Wednesday to Pride Park on the final day of the campaign.

Rams fans would not have expected the club to be in this position at the start of the season, but unfortunately it has panned out the way it has.

Wayne Rooney has been unable to arrest the slide in recent months and what now lies ahead of him is a crunch clash against the Owls on Sunday afternoon.

Rotherham could have a major say in proceedings though with their game in hand this week against Luton - win that and the Millers go above the Rams and plunge them into the relegation zone.

No doubt a lot will be playing on Rooney's mind this week - here are a few dilemmas that he may be thinking about ahead of the match.

Forsyth, Buchanan or both?

Even though Lee Buchanan is a talented Derby youngster, Rooney has left him out occasionally in recent weeks in favour of the more experienced Craig Forsyth.

They can fit in the same team though - Rooney has switched to a three centre-back formation a few times and in that case, Forsyth would play on the left side of that trio with Buchanan at wing-back.

The decision over which formation to use is a massive dilemma for Rooney in itself, and if he does go with just four defenders it will come down to just one of Forsyth and Buchanan in the team - a decision that may not be made until the last minute.

 

 

 

 

Waghorn in or out?

As far as seasons go, this one has been a disappointing one for Martyn Waghorn.

The striker would have been looking to build on his 12 Championship goals last season but he's not got anywhere close to that tally - he's scored just three times this season and been sent off once and with his performances it doesn't look like he will earn a new contract this summer.

The 31-year-old started on Saturday against Swansea but Derby have looked far more effective with Colin Kazim-Richards - who was shifted out to the right-wing - leading the line, so you'd imagine Rooney reverts to that formula this weekend.

Then it's a case of does Waghorn fit into the line-up cutting in off the right - there's options to choose from with Kamil Jozwiak and Patrick Roberts both wanting to be in that position, so Waghorn may not make it into the starting line-up at all.