Preview: Accrington Stanley vs. Derby County - prediction, team news, lineups

Accrington Stanley host Derby County in League One on Saturday, looking to climb above the Rams and into the top half of the table.

Stanley sit in 13th after 12 games, just a point behind Saturday's visitors to the Wham Stadium, who have won just once away from home this season.

Match preview

© Reuters

John Coleman's side, who saw a small, three-game winning run come to an end against Plymouth Argyle last weekend, have had an even start to the season, winning, drawing and losing four games so far.

Early leaders Argyle took all three points from the feisty affair at Home Park thanks to goals from Niall Ennis, Sam Cosgrove and Ryan Hardie, as the hosts' Dan Scarr and Stanley's Seamus Conneely saw red for a first-half incident.

Accrington were very much in the game at Plymouth, having a number of chances to haul in their high-flying hosts, but they were not clinical enough in front of goal.

That is not a rare occurrence for them this season, either, as they average more than 15 shots a game but have only scored 14 times in the league so far.

Stanley have bounced back in recent weeks after a shaky start to the season, having not won a game in six before their winning spell, and could find themselves as high as eighth with victory on Saturday.

Derby have not found life in League One as easy as their fans would have thought they would, following last season's damning relegation from the Championship.

Liam Rosenior left the club three weeks ago and was replaced by Paul Warne, who oversaw a victory in his first game in charge away at Cambridge United.

However, his first taste of Pride Park was a sour one, as his side suffered defeat at the hands of Port Vale last weekend.

James Collins went from hero to villain as he gave the Rams the lead inside the opening five minutes before being sent off in the second half, after Ellis Harrison had equalised from the penalty spot.

James Wilson then found the net eight minutes after the sending-off to give Vale the three points and leave Derby in 10th.

After the summer of disruption and a lot of new signings coming in, it should not come as a surprise that Derby are yet to hit the high notes, but they have not been performing too badly, especially defensively, only conceding 11 times - the joint-third best record in the division.

A win on Saturday could see them jump into the top six and a playoff position.

Team News

© Reuters

Accrington are forced into at least one change with Conneely's red card, which could allow Joe Pritchard to come in in his place.

Harvey Rodgers missed last weekend's defeat with an illness so could take his place back in the starting lineup at left-back.

With Collins suspended, County are hoping that David McGoldrick is fit again to lead the line after his groin injury.

Curtis Davies is expected to be back after an illness kept him out of the defeat against Port Vale, and Korey Smith is back in training and should be fit enough to at least make the bench this weekend.

Accrington Stanley possible starting lineup:

Jensen; Clarke, Astley, Tharme, Rodgers; Hamilton; McConville, Pritchard, Coyle, Whalley; Leigh

Derby County possible starting lineup:

Wildsmith; Chester, Davies, Cashin; Barkhuizen, Knight, Bird, Hourihane, Roberts; Sibley, McGoldrick

We say: Accrington Stanley 1-2 Derby County

It is only a matter of time until Derby's big-name signings start clicking together, and they should be just too much for Accrington, but it certainly will not be easy.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.