John Eustace: Derby County set for Burnley test

Derby County have to welcome table-topping Burnley to Pride Park on Tuesday night – after a 1-0 defeat to Swansea City on Saturday – and new boss John Eustace is very much looking forward to taking them on.

Ji-sung Eom scored the only goal to push the Swans up to 15th in the table, seven points clear of arch-rivals Cardiff City in the third relegation place.

Defeat for the Rams ended a run of four wins on the trot.

Even though Eustace’s side are only out of the bottom three on goal difference – they are tied on 41 points with Cardiff – he believes they can escape a quickfire return to League One.

Worried

“We didn’t create many chances, but neither did they,” said Eustace.

“It was a tight game.

“I’m not really worried about what other teams do, I’m just worried about ourselves.

“We’re just concentrating on picking up as many points as we can and seeing where it takes us.

“I hope the effort we are showing is going to be enough to keep us up.

“All I ask is for us to be competitive and work hard.

“We had a difficult game on Wednesday, a long travel down to Swansea and the effort the boys put in was outstanding.

“It is [a] mad few weeks coming up, but that’s the Championship.

“That’s why all we can do is concentrate on what we can do.

“We’ve got a huge game against Burnley coming up on Tuesday, and we’ll look forward to that.

“They are an excellent team with a good manager and a huge budget.

“That’s why they are top of the league.”