‘Confident’ Rams ready for Cats

Derby County midfielder Tom Huddlestone insists that the Rams will be full of confidence for Friday night’s Sky Bet Championship opener away to Sunderland.

Both Derby and the Black Cats succumbed to defeats in their final preseason friendlies at the weekend, the Midlands outfit going down 2-1 at home to Hoffenheim and the Wearsiders crashing 5-0 to Celtic.

Huddlestone, back at Derby following his summer switch from Hull, told dcfc.co.uk: “Sunderland have just come down from the Premier League so they will be one of the sides trying to bounce back up.

“We will go into the game full of confidence, though.

“We have got 20 or 22 players that all feel that should be in the starting XI and I think the manager is going to have a bit of a headache.

“We all feel ready and just want to get started now.”

Matej Vydra came off the bench to haul Derby level in their clash with Hoffenheim, only for Germany striker Sandro Wagner to hit a fine winner for the visitors.

Reflecting on Derby’s seventh pre-season game, with four wins, a draw and defeats to Hoffenheim and Northampton, 30-year-old ex-Tottenham midfielder Huddlestone “We defended fairly well. In our attacking play, we were caught out sometimes on whether we needed to press or fully keep our shape.