Preview: Coventry City vs Derby County - prediction, team news, lineups

Coventry City play host to Derby County on Friday evening looking to move one step closer to securing automatic promotion to the Premier League.

At a time when the Sky Blues hold a nine-point lead at the top of the Championship table, the Rams are three points adrift of the playoffs in eighth position.

Match preview

There was a time at the start of February when Coventry appeared ready to wilt in the race for the top two, Frank Lampard's side putting together a three-game winless streak to hand encouragement to the chasing pack.

However, Coventry have since recorded seven victories from eight games, only suffering defeat to in-form Southampton during that time.

While Coventry were not always convincing at Swansea City last time out, a ruthless 11-minute streak that saw them score three times before the break put them on their way to another priceless win.

Coventry now need a maximum of 14 points from their final seven matches to secure a long-awaited return to the top flight, but Lampard knows that another win here would heap the pressure on the teams below them.

Despite losing to Southampton in their last home fixture, Coventry remain with the best home record in the division, accumulating 45 points from 19 matches.

Furthermore, this is a team that has scored 18 goals across their last eight games, while they have netted at least 14 more times (81) than any other club in the second tier.

© Imago / Every Second Media

Nevertheless, Derby make the trip to the CBS Arena as another form team in the Championship, with four wins coming from five fixtures.

John Eustace, a former Coventry midfielder, deserves huge credit for keeping the Rams in the promotion race, particularly with clean sheets coming against Portsmouth and Birmingham City.

Successive 1-0 victories emphasised the battling qualities of this squad, and Derby remain with the fifth-best away record in the division despite having lost three of their most recent four such contests.

With relentless Southampton to come on April 11, Derby know that wins over Coventry and Stoke City would leave them in a position to move level on points with the sixth-placed Saints on April 11.

That all said, Eustace will be focused on trying to deal with two of the most difficult tests in the EFL during 2025-26, which is taking points at the CBS Arena and stopping Coventry from scoring goals.

Coventry City Championship form:

Derby County Championship form:

Team News

© Imago / Imago

After playing 120 minutes for Jamaica on Tuesday night, Joel Latibeaudiere could drop out of the Coventry backline and be replaced by Luke Woolfenden.

Jake Bidwell may also replace Jay Dasilva after the latter played 88 minutes for Wales against Northern Ireland on the same day.

There are doubts over Brandon Thomas-Asante after he missed out on international duty with Ghana, but Jack Rudoni and Haji Wright are both pushing for returns to the squad after injury.

Sammie Szmodics will miss out for Derby after suffering a head injury while representing Republic of Ireland last week.

David Ozoh could be recalled with Bobby Clark being used in the number 10 role. Meanwhile, Carlton Morris make get the nod over Patrick Agyemang, who represented the United States during the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Coventry City possible starting lineup:

Rushworth; Van Ewijk, Thomas, Woolfenden, Bidwell; Onyeka, Grimes; Sakamoto, Eccles, Mason-Clark; Simms

Derby County possible starting lineup:

O'Donnell; Ward, Sanderson, Clarke, Murkin; Travis, Ozoh; Brereton Diaz, Clark, Brewster; Morris

We say: Coventry City 3-1 Derby County

With this game coming after a two-week break and internationals being played at the start of the week, it remains to be seen who will react best. Nevertheless, we can only back the Sky Blues to come through in style, even if they cannot keep a clean sheet.

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