Nuno Espírito Santo has made two changes to the team that beat Wolves on Tuesday, as they face Derby County this afternoon.
One of the changes is Taty Castellanos coming in for Pablo, meaning the strike partnership is Taty and Piroe, let’s hope Nuno plays the Argentine as the deeper of the two this time, but that’s unlikely.
This is slightly harsh on Pablo who was pretty good vs Wolves. However, the fact he isn’t even on the bench suggests he’s nursing an injury.
Our very own ExWHUEmployee has reported that there was a very late withdrawal from the team, so you can only assume that is Pablo Felipe.
The second change is Joel Veltman who has replaced Kyle Walker-Peters. This could also be seen as quite harsh as KWP had one of his better games so far this season, but the squad rotation makes sense as Veltman isn’t much of a drop off, if he even is a drop off at all.
The starting XI: Hermansen; Veltman, Mavropanos, Kilman, Scarles; Bowen, Mukasa, Engels, Solomon; Taty, Piroe.
Nuno’s decision to keep the team largely the same other than a couple of straight swaps is a wise one.
The only other decision that was to be make was in the midfield. Mukasa and Engels is a very attacking duo, however, it worked against Wolves so it really should work against a Derby side who are expected to sit behind the ball a lot.
All nine of our summer signings are in the squad. The two latest arrivals Morata and Adama are named amongst the subs.
The bench as a real lack of attacking options with no striker and only Edvin Austbø as a real attacking option, so let’s hope the players in the starting XI can do the business.
Lewis Orford is back on the bench after missing out on the matchday squad on Tuesday.
This is a huge game for Nuno, if he wants the pressure of the sack to disappear he has to back up that excellent Wolves result with another win at home against a worse team.
