Can Derby County Perform the Great Escape in Championship?
Wayne Rooney is determined to perform heroics and keep Derby in the second flight, with the England top scorer hoping that Derby rack up some points over the festive season and they recently claimed a victory over Bournemouth before drawing away to Fulham. Those results against the leading teams in the division will give them confidence that they can get a result anywhere.
Their first target will be Barnsley who are ten points better off and it’s been a rotten season for the Yorkshire side who lost Valerien Ismael to West Brom over the summer. The Tykes installed Poya Asbaghi as manager recently and he has an enormous job at Oakwell, with the team looking doomed to play English League One football unless they have a quick upturn in results.
Peterborough’s Poor Away Form Means Trouble
Peterborough are the third team who are odds-on to be relegated from the English Championship and Posh’s main problem is that they have been abject on the road this season. United have played ten away games at the time of writing and nine of these clashes have ended in a defeat, with a solitary triumph occurring at Hull.
Darren Ferguson’s side are not too shabby at London Road considering that they have won three and drawn three of their nine games, with this team capable of clambering out of the drop zone although much depends if they can arrest their poor away form.
Reading and Hull Could Be Sucked Into Trouble
Reading were going along swimmingly until the Royals were hit by an expected six point deduction and it leaves the Berkshire side hovering above the relegation zone. Without this deduction, they would be eight points above the bottom three places, although there has been a recent downturn in form which has seen the team take four points from seven matches.
Hull City were promoted last term and they sit nineteenth in the table. They are averaging less than a point per match and the Tigers have recently recorded a succession of victories and manager Grant McCann will hope this sort of form continues over Christmas.