Huddersfield Town travel to face Wayne Rooney's Derby County in the opening game of the season in the Sky Bet Championship at Pride Park, with the game a 15:00  kick off on Saturday afternoon.

The contest sees fans return back to stadiums all over the country with this also Carlos Corberan's first opportunity to see his beloved fans in a league game since he took reigns in West Yorkshire. Town go into Saturday's game off the back of their Carabao Cup win against Sheffield Wednesday on penalties last weekend, prevailing 4-2.

The Terriers finished 20th in the league last season, six points the difference between Wycombe Wanderers in 22nd position. With new personel through the door in Jordan Rhodes who returns to the club, Danel Sinani and Matty Pearson, the Terriers look upwards and onwards as they look to impose more pain in the Derby ranks after the recent financial troubles for the Rams.

Recently an independent disciplinary commission declared Derby's accounts for years ending 30 June 2016, 30 June 2017 and 30 June 2018 uncompliant with the requirements of the Championship profitability and sustainability rules.

Town have a mixed record against Derby, with their recent meeting ending in a 2-0 loss at Pride Park in February 2021. Goals from George Edmundson and Martin Waghorn made sure the hosts won the contest with Jaden Brown getting sent off in the 88th minute, two minutes before normal time, for a second bookable offence within 11 minutes.

Derby have had various issues behind the scenes although they did retain their Championship status on the last day of the season in a dramatic six goal thriller against Sheffield Wednesday, with results going in their favour to save Rooney and co for another season in the second division.

With players not getting paid towards the end of last season and all sorts of rumours regarding FFP being broken by the club, Derby did well to survive the scare of relegation to League One considering their circumstances. But this seems to have had a domino effect with still apparent as they recently struggled to register a full squad before their home game against the Terriers

Below is all you need to know ahead of the contest.

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  • What team will Carlos Corberan go for in front of fans for the first time in a league game?

Huddersfield have several options to select from after bolstering their squad in recent weeks with veteran striker Jordan Rhodes and Matty Pearson signing for the club.

In the absence of Isaac Mbenza and Rolando Aarons from several of Town's pre season games, former Borehamwood winger Sorba Thomas has impressed and could feature on the weekend.

Meanwhile head coach Carlos Corberan is still deliberating on whether to reinstate regular goalkeeper Ryan Schofield in a bid to impress, after Nicholls showed up well since arriving from MK Dons. Terriers striker Jordan Rhodes and defender Matty Pearson are both expected to get minutes against the Rams. Pipa, Aaron Rowe and Rolando Aarons will miss the game due to injuries.

Derby on the other hand, come into the season opener having seen senior players including Jack Marriot, Scott Malone and Martyn Waghorn move on this summer, while no new signings have been confirmed though contracts have been offered to several trialists. Among the possible late additions to Rooney's squad are experienced campaigners Ravel Morrison, Sone Aluko, Sam Baldock, Richard Stearman and Phil Jagielka who have all been involved in the Rams’ training camp of late. Given the situation, a youthful XI may feature Dylan Williams and Isaac Hutchinson

Up front the home side could see Kamil Jozwiak who featured for Poland in the Euros, join Colin Kazim-Richards and captain Tom Lawrence.

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  • Head-to-Head

17 April 2017, Derby County v Huddersfield Town, (W) 0-1, Sky Bet Championship.

15 Feb 2020, Derby County v Huddersfield Town (L) 1-0, Sky Bet Championship.

23 Feb 2021, Derby County v Huddersfield Town, (L) 2-0, Sky Bet Championship.

  • Predicted lineups

Huddersfield: Nicholls; Turton, Pearson, Colwill, Toffolo, O'Brien, Hogg, Sinani, Koroma, Ward, Holmes.

Derby: Roos; Cashin, Forsyth, Williams, Buchanan, Sibley, Shinnie, Bird, Lawrence, Jozwiak, Kazim Richards. 

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