This Saturday’s Championship clash between Southampton and Derby County looks set to be a huge one in the race for the playoffs.
No other team in the league is in better form than sixth-placed Saints, who haven’t lost in 16 matches across all competitions, but Derby County are travelling to St Mary’s off the back of their fifth home win in a row – the best winning streak at Pride Park since 19/20.
In fact, Southampton haven’t beaten Derby in a competitive match since February 2012, which may give the Rams some extra confidence as they look to move above eighth in the table themselves.
However, the East Midlands outfit have a lot more injury troubles at the minute in comparison to Southampton, even after the likes of Max Johnston, Sondre Langas and Lars-Jorgen Salvesen all made their long-awaited returns to the match day squad against Stoke City on Easter Monday.
Derby’s backup goalkeeper, Josh Vickers, has also recovered from a groin injury. It was reported at the time he’d be out for around eight weeks.
Starting with the visitors, FLW takes a look at the 8 players missing for the game in Hampshire. One player for the Rams is in contention, with Eustace not committing to say whether he’s ready or not.
1. Jacob Widell Zetterstrom
After being spotted in a ‘full-time scenes’ video which Derby posted on social media after beating Stoke, Jacob Widell Zetterstrom is seemingly getting closer to a return to competitive action – although it won’t be any time soon.
The Rams’ number one hasn’t played since the 23rd January in a 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion – due to complications from a virus- although head coach John Eustace did tell local media at the start of April that it should only be a “couple more weeks” until he’s back in full training with the first team.
2. Callum Elder
Left-back Callum Elder was ruled out until after the international break by Eustace after undergoing surgery on his knee, whilst it was also confirmed at the same time he sustained a toe injury against Hull City in February.
With the Australian’s contract expiring at the end of the season and no update so far on that front, it’s getting increasingly likely he won’t even be at the club come the start of 26/27.
3. Owen Eames
As per speculation on a Derby fans forum, youngster Owen Eames picked up an injury in training which kept him out of the squad for the aforementioned Millwall game, and he hasn’t played any football since.
Albeit Eames has only played 13 minutes of Championship football this season, the 19-year-old forward has featured quite a lot on the bench as an unused substitute under Eustace.
4. Rhian Brewster
Another Derby player who has had to undergo knee surgery, Rhian Brewster won’t play for the Rams again this season. The 26-year-old picked up said injury after scoring the winner in the 1-0 victory over Birmingham City before the international break.
Before being injured, Brewster had scored in five of his past 10 league games to help the East Midlands club re-ignite their hopes of a playoff push.
5. Patrick Agyemang
Arguably the biggest miss for Derby against Southampton – AND for beyond the rest of this season – will be Patrick Agyemang, who picked up a heartbreaking Achilles tendon injury against Stoke in the Rams’ last match.
It has since been confirmed that the 25-year-old will miss the upcoming World Cup, just days after coming back from representing the United States against Belgium and Portugal.
The expected timeline for his potential recovery has been set at nine months, as revealed by Eustace via BBC Radio Derby. Agyemang joined the club last July for a reported initial fee of £5.8m from MLS side Charlotte FC.
6. Sammie Szmodics – UNCONFIRMED
When asked in his pre-match presser whether Sammie Szmodics would be back in with the squad, Eustace said, “We’ll have to wait and see.”
This comes after the on-loan Ipswich Town forward suffered a collision whilst on international duty with the Republic of Ireland that resulted in him spending a night in hospital.
7. Mads Roerslev
One of Southampton’s injured players underwent successful Achilles tendon surgery in February – full-back Mads Roerslev.
Saints’ head coach Tonda Eckert has not had Roerslev available to him since being appointed permanent head, yet the player remains part of first-team meetings at Staplewood, as per The Daily Echo.
Eckert said in his pre-match conference that no new injuries have come since their last game.
8. Alex McCarthy
36-year-old goalkeeper Alex McCarthy hasn’t been included in a matchday squad for Southampton since the Watford game on 7th February, due to having wrist surgery.
The veteran goalkeeper is out of contract in June, and, like Roerslev, has not made an appearance for Eckert.
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