Derby Not Embarrassed By – Preston Boss Notes Rams’ Strength | OneFootball

David Rogers/Getty Images

Preston North End boss Paul Heckingbottom has pointed out that Derby County know how to make games difficult for opposition sides and thinks that John Eustace has bolstered his attacking department this summer, which has increased the Rams’ forward threat.

Eustace took charge of a relegation-threatened Derby side mid-season during the last campaign and managed to keep them up in the Championship.

The lack of forward threat was one of the major issues Derby faced last season and this summer Eustace brought in a host of experienced forward players in the form of Rhian Brewster, who said that a move to the Rams was no brainer for him, Ben Brereton Diaz, Carlton Morris and Andreas Weimann to strengthen that department.

Derby registered their first win of the season against West Brom last weekend with a 1-0 win over them with the help of Weimann’s goal.

The Rams’ performances so far have made Heckingbottom believe that they have improved this season by keeping last season’s strengths intact and he added that they know how to stay in the game and make the game difficult for opposition sides.

Heckingbottom also pointed out that Eustace has added a lot more firepower to his squad which makes them dangerous going forward.

“It will be a tough game from what I have seen of Derby”, Heckingbottom told Preston’s in-house media (0:05).

“They are showing all those strengths that they showed last season when I saw them.

“[They] know how to stay in games and know how to make it difficult for opponents.

“They are not embarrassed to win the games by making it tough and then scoring late goals as they did against Bristol City and as they did against West Brom, so it’s going to be a tough, tough game.

“Obviously John has put a lot more firepower in at the front end as well to make them more of a threat.

“He improved it by changing the squad, adding players, but still maintained that toughness, if you like, which they showed last year.”

Derby have so far secured only five points from five games in the league and they sit 19th in the league table.

They are now set to take on Heckingbottom’s Preston this weekend at Pride Park and last season during the fixture in April, it was Eustace’s side that came out 2-0 victorious over the visitors.