Our prediction for this Championship match:
WBA will be aiming to retain top position in the standings when they face Derby County at the Hawthorns on Matchday 7. The Baggies made a promising start to the season, but several teams are breathing down their neck ahead of the visit of Derby. Dara O’Shea and Matt Clarke remain in the treatment room, but they should be the only absentees in the home team.
The Rams, on the other hand, failed to impress in a 2-0 loss at Birmingham City. Wayne Rooner’s troops do not seem to be at their sharpest at the start of the season, and we do not believe that they are capable of spoiling WBA’s party at the Hawthorns. Both Colin Kazim-Richards and Krystian Bielik are sidelined with injuries for the visiting team. In their last meeting in the English second tier WBA defeated Derby 2-0.
Highlighted Player (Callum Robinson):
Born in Northampton, Callum Robinson started his career at Aston Villa. Having gone through the youth ranks with the Villans, Robinson was given his first-team debut in 2013. As a product of the Aston Villa academy, Robinson unfortunately never got a chance to prove his worth at the club and ended up playing no less than 4 league appearances during his three-year stay at Villa Park.
Various loan spells – at Preston North End on two occasions and Bristol City – brought mixed fortunes for the striker up until 2016 when he sealed a permanent move with the Lillywhites. Robinson represented England at U16, U17, U19 and U20 levels but raised plenty of eyebrows when he declared for the Republic of Ireland in March 2018 through his late grandmother who was from Monaghan.
The striker made his senior team breakthrough in Republic of Ireland’s 2-2 draw with Celtic in Scott Brown’s testimonial match and will be hoping to prove doubters wrong and prove his motive is bigger than career opportunism.
Highlighted Team (Derby):
Derby County is one of the 12 founder members of the Football League. However, nowadays the Rams compete in the Championship and they play their home matches at Pride Park Stadium. Derby County have won the two trophies in the English top flight (1971/1972, 1974/1975), with the team lifting the FA Cup trophy just after the World War II (1946).
Derby’s main rivals are Nottingham Forest, Leicester City and Leeds United, but the rivalry between Forest and Derby is regarded as the biggest one.
The two teams take on each other in the East Midlands derby. The colour of Derby’s shirts is white, whilst their shorts are black. It has to be noted that the club was founded in 1884 by William Morley. The Rams competed in the European competitions four times, but they did not record a notable result in the European Cups. The club’s chairman is Mel Morris.