Friday night sees promotion-chasing rivals Derby and Bristol City lock horns at Pride Park

Second-placed Derby reduced the gap to the runaway Championship leaders Wolves to ten points after beating struggling Birmingham 3-0 at St Andrews last weekend. Johnny Russell, Matej Vydra and Andreas Weimann all grabbed goals as Gary Rowett returned to haunt his former club.

The Rams made a sluggish start to proceedings with goalkeeper Scott Carson, who Rowett has said is worthy of an England recall, pulling out a couple of impressive stops. But County rode the early pressure and soon exerted their authority on the encounter to seal a sixth win in eight outings.

Bristol City boss Lee Johnson believes his promotion-chasing team could be becoming victims of their own cup success. The Robins were beaten 1-0 at Ashton Gate by Norwich last weekend, extending their losing streak to five matches.

City saw far more of the ball throughout the game but struggled to break down the Canaries defence. Josh Brownhill hit the post before Norwich scored the decisive goal against the run of play with 10 minutes to play and Johnson suggested his side struggled with the physical exertion so soon after their League Cup date with Manchester City.

Bristol City could be forgiven for having one eye on Tuesday night's return tussle with the Premier League leaders but the visitors will be unable to make sweeping changes. The Robins are in the midst of an injury crisis with club captain Bailey Wright and strikers Matt Taylor and Gustav Engvall joining the already lengthily list of absentees and doubts for Friday.

Rams out to extend home record against Robins

Bristol City's 4-1 win over Derby in the reverse encounter was their biggest league win over the Rams since winning 3-0 in February 1985 but the Robins might not be afforded the same chance when they travel to Pride Park.

Derby have won 11 of their last 14 home league matches against the Robins (D1 L2), scoring at least three goals in each of their last three meetings here. The home side have claimed eight victories in 13 home outings and recorded clean sheets in seven of their most recent 11 Championship matches.

With Bristol City very short of offensive options, potentially distracted by Tuesday's semi-final second leg, and having failed to score in three of their last four, their might be mileage in backing a Derby win to nil. All eight of Derby's triumphs at Pride Park having arrived alongside a clean sheet.

However I will take less risk with just backing Derby to win @2.10