The international break is over, and we can finally get back to some compelling football.

For the Rams, matches at this early stage of the season will not be much more meaningful than Saturday’s match at newly-promoted Preston; in fact, this is arguably the most important fixture for the Rams since the Wembley playoff final against QPR in May of 2014.

First, having sleepwalked through their first five Championship matches of the season, the Rams must find promotion form quickly in order to avoid slipping further behind the other promotion contenders.

Second, this is the first match of the Rams in their ‘Massive Spenders’ era: with the ten-plus million recently spent on Johnson and Butterfield added to the nine-plus million spent on Weimann, Ince and Shackell in the summer, the Rams have spent over twenty million pounds in transfer fees since the end of last season.

This sort of spending is not commensurate with an eighth place finish in the Championship; if the Rams do not achieve promotion this season, it will not be business as usual next year: there is real potential for bad things to happen.

Inevitably, most thoughts on the Rams line-up have to begin with midfield. Craig Bryson is said to be fit, although it is unlikely he will start and we have not yet been told whether George Thorne will be fit after leaving the Leeds game early. Butterfield and Johnson must start but it seems to me; beyond that there are not too many certainties.

Few players came out of the Leeds game with much credit, but this is probably not the time for many unforced changes.

I think my starting eleven — assuming Thorne is NOT fit - would be: Carson, Baird, Keogh, Shackell, Forsyth, Hanson, Butterfield, Johnson, Ince, Russell and Martin. I would leave out Hendrick, though I suspect he will play.

Preston are a decent side, although they are not well placed in the Championship, they have only lost to two pretty good teams; Hull and Ipswich. Their weakness appears to be in attack having only scored two goals in five matches, while conceding four.

It is time for the Rams to raise their game and begin putting away teams like this. Three points on Saturday could see us begin to make some much-needed progress up that Championship table.

Photo: Action Images

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