Derby County welcome third-placed Bournemouth to Pride Park on Tuesday evening, with Wayne Rooney searching for his first win since taking the manager's job on a permanent basis.

The Cherries will be looking to bounce back after succumbing to a surprise defeat to Luton Town last time out, which saw them lose ground on the automatic promotion places.

Match preview

Derby County manager Wayne Rooney pictured in December 2020 © Reuters

A 1-0 loss at home to fellow relegation contenders Rotherham United over the weekend saw the Rams lose their third consecutive game without registering a single goal.

That result has left Derby in 23rd position in the Championship table after collecting just 19 points all season.

While Rooney's men have been fairly solid in defence throughout the current campaign, their attack has consistently let them down. Their 14-goal haul is the lowest in the second tier and has heavily contributed to their precarious position.

Former Rangers striker Martyn Waghorn found the back of the net on 12 occasions last season, but the 30-year-old has only registered two efforts this time around and has failed to find the back of the net since October.

If Derby are to drag themselves to safety, they will need the likes of Waghorn to step up and start finding the back of the net on a regular basis, starting with this midweek encounter against a free-scoring Bournemouth side.

Bournemouth manager Jason Tindall pictured on January 16, 2021 © Reuters

Jason Tindall has made a good start to life at the Vitality Stadium since stepping up from his previous assistant manager role following Eddie Howe's departure in the summer.

The newly-relegated side have settled back into life in England's second tier fairly well. The South coast club are the division's second-highest scorers and look set to challenge for an instant return to the Premier League.

However, in recent weeks it has been far from plain sailing for the Cherries. Just one win in their last five league games has seen second-placed Swansea City open up a four-point gap over them while Brentford now sit just one point behind them with two games in hand.

Getting back to winning ways as soon as possible will be pivotal to Bournemouth's promotion push, and a clash with a struggling Derby side will be seen as a perfect opportunity to do just that.

Derby County Championship form: DWLWLL
Derby County form (all competitions): WLWLLL

Bournemouth Championship form: WDLWDL
Bournemouth form (all competitions): DLWWDL

Team News

Bournemouth midfielder Jefferson Lerma is shown a red card against Luton on January 16, 2021 © Reuters

Rooney should have a full squad to choose from for the visit of high-flying Bournemouth.

Tom Lawrence is expected to take a place on the Derby bench after an extended absence due to an ankle injury and will give his new manager another option in attack.

Tindall will be forced to cope without Colombia international midfielder Jefferson Lerma after the 26-year-old was sent off against Luton.

That means Philip Billing could come back into the starting XI, forming the base for an exciting attack, including an in-form Dominic Solanke.

Derby County possible starting lineup:
Roos; Byrne, Wisdom, Clarke, Buchanan; Sibley, Shinnie; Waghorn, Knight, Jozwiak; Kazim-Richards

Bournemouth possible starting lineup:
Begovic; Cook, Carter-Vickers, Rico; Stacey, Billing, Cook, Smith; Brooks, Solanke, King

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We say: Derby County 0-2 Bournemouth

Despite Bournemouth's recent struggles in the league, they should have too much quality for a Derby side struggling to find the back of the net and any sort of consistent form. It could be a comfortable victory for Tindall's men, but the Rams are capable of causing an upset on their day.

Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Bournemouth win with a probability of 48.08%. A draw had a probability of 27.1% and a win for Derby County had a probability of 24.87%.

The most likely scoreline for a Bournemouth win was 0-1 with a probability of 13.55%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (9.56%) and 1-2 (8.91%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.63%), while for a Derby County win it was 1-0 (8.96%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with an 9% likelihood.