Darren Ferguson's men had an opening day to forget on their return to the second tier, losing 3-0 at the hands of a ruthless Luton Town.

Posh will want to give their returning fans a season to remember, and can rectify their slow start with a win at the Weston Homes Stadium this weekend.

Whilst a myriad of troubles pile up off the pitch, it has been a fairly solid start to the campaign for Wayne Rooney's Derby County side.

They followed up an opening day draw to Huddersfield Town with a penalty-shootout win against Salford City in the Carabao Cup in midweek.

  • Team news

The hosts will be without former-Derby man Jack Marriott and midfielder Jack Taylor, with groin and hamstring injuries respectively.

Siriki Dembele has a chance of making the bench after recovering from his achilles problem.

Derby's chances could be boosted by the return of Lee Buchanan after he resumed training this week.

The much-changed Rams are still without Krystian Bielik, Kornell McDonald and Jason Knight.

  • Predicted lineups

Peterborough United (4-4-2):

Pym; Thompson, Kent, Beevers, Butler; Ward, Knight, Grant, Tomlinson; Clarke-Harris, Szmodics.

Derby County (4-2-3-1):

Roos; Ebosele, Stearman, Davies, Forsyth; Bird, Shinnie; Jozwiak, Lawrence, Morrison; Kazim-Richards.

  • Ones to watch

Sammie Szmodics

After making a name for himself at Colchester United, the 5ft 5in attacking midfielder initially made the step up to Peterborough on-loan in 2020.

That loan was made permanent at the start of last season, and he shone in their promotion campaign - chipping in with 15 goals and eight assists and receiving a call-up for the Ireland national team.

Ravel Morrison

An eccentric player that has divided opinion at every club he has been at, Wayne Rooney will be hoping that the now 28-year-old playmaker can channel the form that saw the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson delight in his talents as a youngster at Manchester United.

Morrison has played for nine clubs in the last seven years, but will hope he has finally found his calling as the man to help save the Rams in what looks to be a tough season ahead.

  • Previous meetings

The two clubs have faced off just 12 times in their history, with four Posh wins, two draws and six Derby victories.

Their last meeting came in the second tier back in 2013, as Derby ran out 3-1 winners at Pride Park with goals from Craig Bryson, Chris Martin and Richard Keogh. 

  • How to watch

The game is live on Sky Sports Football, and kicks off at 12:30 BST.

  • What the managers have said

Darren Ferguson knows his team must improve from their poor start to the season. He said:

"We need to get back to basics. We need to keep things simple and play off the structure we want to play off. We drifted away from that at Luton.

"Derby’s difficult situation does make it easier for me to plan purely because they are restricted in who they can play.

“Obviously we will plan and prepare thoroughly for them, but as always it’s about what we do.”

Wayne Rooney outlined the tough position he finds himself in when being forced to play young players. He said:

"It is a tough position to be in for those Academy lads stuck in the 23s and no progression for them, it is very tough.

"Because we have done OK in our first two games we have to be realistic. These young lads, when the going gets tough in the Championship, when there is pressure from the fans and from the media, I have to protect them and do what is best for them. We are going to have difficult moments if we continue to be in the position we are in, it is going to be very tough."