Mozza’s men seek historic win at Derby

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·8 September 2026

Mozza’s men seek historic win at Derby

Derby County v West Bromwich Albion; Pride Park, Wednesday 9th September 2026, 7.45pm

Albion face their third successive midweek fixture with the trip to Pride Park on Wednesday evening looking to build on the return to winning ways that they enjoyed against Watford on Saturday. Another victory would be nothing short of historic with the Baggies having only recorded one league win at the stadium since the Rams moved there in 1997.

If there was an upside to the defeat at Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup, it was that the Baggies now have a free week ahead of the Black Country Derby while their opponents face a trip to Everton, but a third midweek fixture in succession this week will undoubtedly test the fitness of the squad.

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James Morrison has been switching the starting line-up around a little bit where it makes sense, but Jimmy-Jay Morgan and Ousmane Diakité have started every competitive fixture for Albion this season while Isaac Price and George Campbell have played every minute of all seven games! I’m sure their fitness will be monitored closely and, assuming they’re all still raring to go, all four will start again at Derby as four of the most consistent performers this season and very much the spine of the team.

Nat Phillips, who had only sat out the cup tie at St James’s Park, was surprising left out of the starting line up against Watford on Saturday with Chris Mepham coming in. Whether that was a fitness issue or purely tactical, it was a surprise to see the Campbell-Phillips partnership broken up, but it did bring the first clean sheet of the season even if Phillips’ greater physicality was drafted in for the final ten minutes as Albion sought to see out the match. It was, nonetheless, Mepham’s first league start under Morrison albeit he did have a few injury issues in the latter part of last season. I thought he had a solid game against the Hornets and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him retain his place in the starting line up.

Harry Whitwell has started the season superbly well, particularly when you consider it’s his first prolonged exposure to the first team. He was left out against Charlton but returned on Saturday and put in a superb performance capped off with an assist for Morgan’s goal. Mozza commented that he was “sloppy” with the ball on occasion, but WhoScored.com had him as man-of-the-match with near 84% pass completion and six successful tackles, two more than anyone else on the pitch. The news that he is expected to sign a contract extension very soon is a welcome, albeit expected, development, but it seems that his head coach is determined to keep his feet on the ground.

Aune Heggebø made a return to the starting line against Watford having been struggling to recover from a bout of food poisoning that he picked up during his two-match suspension. I’m still not sure he was at 100% and only had 16 touches, by far the lowest of any player who started the match and half as many as his strike partner. He perhaps needs a little more time to get back up to speed and I suspect he may be back on the bench at Pride Park.

Another player who had to be content with a spot on the bench on Saturday was Jayson Molumby who saw Rabby Nzingoula move into his central midfield spot alongside Diakité. The Irishman showed what he was about when he came off the bench and helped the team secure the win, and it has later emerged that his omission from the starting eleven was with Derby in mind, so expect to see him in the middle of the park on Wednesday.

Having earned automatic promotion back to the Championship in 2024, Derby County finished in an impressive 8th place last season albeit they would have been hopeful of a top six spot earlier in the year. John Eustace took over from Paul Warner in in February 2025 and pulled them away from looked like being an instant return to League One. I’m sure they will be looking to challenge for a play-off spot once again this season, but haven’t started as they would have liked with only one win from their opening five league games.

Two of County’s summer signings were at the Hawthorns last year. Alex Mowatt’s transfer was much discussed when it disrupted Mozza’s plans for the season opener at Norwich, and they also signed Charlie Taylor on a free transfer and the former Albion loanee has been an ever present at left back so far this season. Mowatt has also featured in every league game, as a sub in their defeat at Charlton the day after he signed, and as a starter in the four games since.

One intriguing signing for the Rams is that of attacking midfielder Bobby Clark – the former Birmingham City and Newcastle United academy player joined Liverpool in 2021 before moving to Red Bull Salzburg in 2024 – he impressed on loan at Pride Park last season and the move was made permanent in the summer. Another midfielder joining Eustace’s squad this summer is German 26-year-old Filip Bilbija who moved from Paderborn, while 21-year-old David Ozoh made the switch from Crystal Palace and 31-year old Ryan Hedges joined from Blackburn Rovers.

Perhaps their biggest signing of the summer is on loan in the guise Sammie Szmodics who has joined from Ipswich Town – the Irish international scored on his debut at Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup, and on the first day of the league season at Charlton, albeit both games ended in defeat. His third goal for Derby came in their only victory to date at Portsmouth.

Without a home victory this season, John Eustace’s team will be hopeful that the weight of history helps them to put that right when Albion visit on Wednesday. However, while Baggies fans might approach the game with trepidation because of the club’s record at Pride Park, the players and coaching staff should have no such feelings. They will be full of confidence and, given the club’s relative results so far this season, they will feel that the three points are well within their reach.

History

It’s not approaching Stoke City levels from the nineties and noughties, but Derby County are becoming something of a bogey side for the Baggies, particularly away from home. Albion have won just one of their last thirteen matches against the Rams, a 2-0 win at the Hawthorns during Project Restart, meaning that the last time Baggies fans witnessed a victory over County was in February 2010 when Roberto di Matteo’s team came from a goal down to claim the three points at the Hawthorns – Chris Porter opened the scoring for the visitors just after the break but a brace from Chris Brunt and another from Simon Cox made the final score 3-1.

At Pride Park, however, we have to go back to August 2003 for an Albion win – Rob Hulse scored the only goal for Gary Megson’s team in what remains the Baggies’ only league win at the Rams’ current home. Albion did win on their first ever visit to Pride Park, a League Cup tie in September 2000 when goals from Neil Clement and Richard Sneekes overturned Deon Burton’s opener to earn a 2-1 win – that was only the first leg, however, and the Rams won 4-2 at the Hawthorns a week later to progress to the third round.

The draw that the Baggies earned in January was not only the first point earned under Eric Ramsay, but the first point earned against Derby County since September 2021, a run of four successive league defeats. County also knocked Albion out of the League Cup on two occasions in that period, 1-0 at Pride Park in 2022 and on penalties at the Hawthorns in August 2025.

Pride Park has not been a happy hunting ground for Albion, but then neither was the Baseball Ground. The Baggies only won there on 7 of 53 visits, one of which was their first ever visit in September 1888. When Derby moved in 1997, Albion hadn’t claimed a league victory at the stadium since their title-winning season, a 4-0 win in December 1919. Their only victory since then was an FA Cup Fifth Round win in February 1978 when a Cyrille Regis brace and another goal from Willie Johnston earned Ron Atkinson’s team a 3-2 victory over Tommy Docherty’s County – Bruce Rioch scored a brace for the hosts who also featured Charlie George in their line-up.

All in all, it means that Albion have recorded just one league win at Derby in 106 years!