Preview: Derby County vs. Huddersfield Town

Derby County will be confident of keeping their slim automatic promotion hopes alive when they host out-of-form Huddersfield Town at Pride Park on Saturday.

The Rams know that they will have to win all five of their remaining Championship matches to have a realistic chance of pipping Burnley to second place.

The Clarets will be confirmed promoted this weekend if they better Derby's result, but Steve McLaren's men are not expected to slip up when they face a Huddersfield side that are winless in eight games.

Terriers boss Mark Robins described their showing in losing 2-0 to Ipswich Town on Tuesday to suffer consecutive home defeats as 'the most abject performance of any team he had managed'.

Fortunately for the Yorkshire-based club, they amassed enough points in the first half of the season that they are unlikely to be dragged into a relegation scrap, even if their poor run continues.

They are seven points and five places clear of the bottom three, although Robins will be keen to get a win on the board as soon as possible to ensure that they do not have a nervy finish to the season.

Huddersfield's dip has coincided with the regular absence of striker James Vaughan, who is their top goalscorer this season with 10, but has been in and out of the team since February.

It was revealed this week that the 25-year-old will not feature again this term as he prepares to undergo knee surgery, and Robins may also be without Keith Southern and Joel Lynch for the trip to Derby.

Jeff Hendrick is available again for the Rams and so McLaren will have to choose between Will Hughes or George Thorne to make way in midfield, the only place where he is likely to consider changes.

A defence which has kept clean sheets in five of their last six home matches should remain untouched, while Jamie Ward is still struggling with a muscle strain and so is not in contention for a recall up front.

Derby recovered from conceding in the first minute to beat Blackpool 3-1 at Bloomfield Road in midweek, with Chris Martin, Patrick Bamford and Craig Bryson all scoring before the half-hour mark.

Recent form

Derby: WLWLWD

Huddersfield: LLDDLL

Possible starting lineups

Derby: Grant; Wisdom, Keogh, Buxton, Forsyth; Thorne, Hendrick, Bryson; Russell, Martin, Bamford

Huddersfield: Smithies; Smith Gerrard, Clarke; Scannell, Clayton, Gobern, Norwood, Dixon; Ward, Wells

Sports Mole says: 3-0