PREVIEW | Derby County vs Coventry City - team news, lineups, predictions

In partnership with

Playmakerstats

·14 August 2025

PREVIEW | Derby County vs Coventry City - team news, lineups, predictions

Derby County welcome Coventry City to Pride Park this Saturday for matchweek two of the EFL Championship, with live coverage on Sky Sports+ from 12:30.

The Rams are still searching for their first league points of the season after a 3-1 defeat to Stoke City on the opening weekend.

OneFootball Videos

Coventry, meanwhile, sit on one point following last Saturday’s goalless draw with Hull City.

Both sides enjoyed a midweek boost, booking their place in the second round of the Carabao Cup.

When these two last met, Derby ran out 2-0 winners – a scoreline the home faithful would be more than happy to see repeated this weekend.

The Fan Zone

Cory Hancock (The Rams Review Podcast): Derby have been poor in their opening two games of the season and will head into the season's home opener wanting to right the ship. The Rams opened the season with a 3-1 loss away at Stoke, with two Stoke goals coming in the dying minutes. Derby picked up a result in the League Cup away at West Brom but were fortunate with a sublime free kick from Joe Ward and luck went their way in the penalty shoot-out.

The Rams home form over the past several season's has been fantastic and has been a catalyst on which to build. However, as manager John Eustace has said, this is no where near a full-strength team. Injuries will continue to be a theme in the opening weeks and months of the season and fans will not see, what would be considered, a full-strength XI until at least October.

Until then, Derby will need to be tough to beat and with a Coventry City side that seem to have promotion aspirations, it will be a tough ask. Derby need to dig in and get points on the board as soon as possible. Hopefully, the great home form can provide the spring board need to provide just that.

Carlton Morris will be the main man up front. The veteran scored on his debut and will the be the main goal getter again. It'll be interested to see John Eustace's team. The team against WBA was completely different than it was against Stoke and he'll have some tough decisions to make on players returning to fitness.

The hope is Derby can remain defensively solid and pick up a point to get their season up and running!

Prediction: 1-1