Derby County have received a big injury blow ahead of this weekend’s clash with Sheffield United after young midfielder David Ozoh was ruled out of the trip to Bramall Lane. The Crystal Palace youngster – a teammate of United’s Jesurun Rak-Sakyi at Selhurst Park – joined Derby in the summer after they were promoted from League One and has caught the eye at Pride Park.
But he was taken off five minutes into the second half of the Rams’ weekend win over Cardiff City and went for a scan today, with Derby boss Paul Warne anxiously awaiting the results. “He’s a bit down in the dumps, bless him,” said Warne of Ozoh at the weekend. “I should know this really but I don’t know whether he has had a hamstring injury before. He obviously felt it.
“But we don’t know the severity of it yet. It could be a couple of weeks and a twinge or it could be eight or 12 weeks. We are blessed that we have a good medical team so we will get him back.”
Ozoh was replaced by former Blade Ben Osborn, who returned to his boyhood club earlier in the summer after United’s shock U-turn over their initial decision to keep him at Bramall Lane beyond the expiry of his contract. Osborn could now feature against his former side this weekend, with teammate Callum Elder promising that the Rams will not abandon their principles in South Yorkshire after a decent start to life back in the second tier.
“It’s hard to put the form down to one thing,” Elder added. “Last season the aim was to win every game to gain promotion, and we have taken that mentality into this season in the Championship. The fans have got behind us and it has been a collective effort – which I feel like everyone can see, with the players, fans and staff together. I think the results show that we have gone into every game home and away with a will to win … and we really will look to build on that.”
