With just 16 games left in the Championship season, Derby County need to quickly turn around their form and make their way back out of the relegation zone.
The Rams have not picked up a point since a 2-1 Boxing Day win over West Bromwich Albion at Pride Park Stadium, and a run of seven straight losses in the league has left the club 22nd in the league table.
The January transfer window did offer Paul Warne the chance to make the changes to his squad that he needed to help in the fight for survival, but supporters will feel like the team has not managed to take the required steps forward.
Derby brought in four new players during the winter, but also let go of four. While a striker was signed in the form of Lars-Jorgen Salvesen, an injury to Dajaune Brown against Sunderland means that the East Midlands outfit will now spend the next three months with just three senior strikers.
Derby may live to regret not bringing in another forward
Conor Washington, Jerry Yates and Salvesen now make up the Rams’ striking department, but the former has not played a minute for the first team this season, and it seems unlikely that he will feature at all in the remaining months.
Therefore, Warne has access to just two forwards, and he may have regrets that he was not able to strike up a deal for another in January.
James Collins’ departure to Lincoln City made sense at the time, but with the lack of cover that Derby now have, it was perhaps a decision that the former Rotherham United manager would go back on if he had the chance to do so.
Youngster Lennon Wheeldon is now next in line for the Rams, and he made the bench against Sheffield United last weekend, but he has very limited experience in senior football. There will be risks with playing him, however, he has the ability to make an impact if needed.
| Derby County striker Championship stats 2024/25 (TransferMarkt)* | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Apps | Goals | Assists |
| Conor Washington | – | – | – |
| Dajaune Brown | 15 | 1 | – |
| James Collins | 17 | – | – |
| Jerry Yates | 27 | 6 | 3 |
| Lars-Jorgen Salvesen | 3 | 1 | – |
| Lennon Wheeldon | – | – | – |
| *Stats correct as of 05/10/2025 | |||
Nevertheless, Warne must hope that Salvesen and Yates can stay fit and start finding the back of the net consistently, otherwise relegation will become a reality. Derby have struggled for goals over the course of the last couple of months, and their number 10 and number 15 will have to form a strong partnership to ensure that they can change the team’s fortunes.
Salvesen and Yates have shown flashes of excellence already
Seven losses in a row has seen pressure mount on Warne, and while he has left a lot to be desired tactically at times, he does need his players to show more in games.
This includes the strikers, and Salvesen and Yates are already starting to show that they can form the partnership that Derby need.
The Norwegian scored his first goal in black-and-white away to Cardiff City in a 2-1 defeat at the end of January, with the Swansea City loanee providing a superb cross to set him up. If they can produce this on a consistent basis, then the Rams will stand a chance of survival.
However, there will be a constant fear that injury could scupper either one of the two strikers, and if so, that could put the final nail in the coffin for Derby’s season and relegation back to League One would become nearly unavoidable.
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