John Eustace has huge Derby County challenge on his hands to reach Championship target

Add as preferred source on Google

Six games into the new Championship campaign, Derby County occupy the final relegation place.

It’s not been the start to the season that the Rams had quite imagined, with Lewis Travis acknowledging the team’s troubles following a 1-0 defeat to Preston North End on Saturday afternoon.

The East Midlands outfit have picked up just one win in the league so far, with Andreas Weimann’s 84th minute strike against West Brom securing all three points for the club earlier in September.

However, Derby need to improve quickly, and EFL Analysis has picked out what the team’s goals are for the season after this start.

• READ MORE – £15m West Brom, Sheffield United and Birmingham City flop bags Bundesliga hat-trick

Derby County’s Championship season prediction

John Eustace will not hide away from the fact that the opening weeks of the season have not gone to plan, and while injuries have been an issue, performance levels have not been up to scratch.

Yet, the league is still tightly packed together, and a mid-table finish should still be the target for Derby, with the likes of Sheffield United, Ipswich Town and Southampton also struggling for form.

The Championship is an extremely competitive division, and anyone can beat anyone. Eustace has a star in Patrick Agyemang who could be the difference in the coming weeks and months, and the Rams must not be written off.

Nevertheless, this slow start has left them with plenty of work to do to reach their target and this starts next weekend against Wrexham.

• READ MORE – OPTA reveals Middlesbrough promotion chances as Rob Edwards’ incredible start continues

The Rams have had a tough start to the campaign

Nearly two months into the new season, Derby have played five of the top seven, as well as recently relegated Ipswich.

Eustace may have money still to spend in January, if needed, but he will be hoping that the fixtures start to ease up in the next few weeks, with the second international break of 2025/26 just around the corner.

Their home form is also an issue at this moment in time, and being more adventurous at Pride Park is a must for Derby in the near future as the ground has been a fortress at times.

Nonetheless, Eustace proved last season what he can do with this club and the Rams have enough quality in their squad to avoid any kind of relegation battle.