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Derby County given major boost as Paul Warne issues injury update
Derby County boss Paul Warne has issued an update on David Ozoh’s recovery from injury. The 19-year-old midfielder, who is on loan at Pride Park from Premier League Crystal Palace, has not played for the Rams since mid-September.
After being sidelined with a hamstring injury, he then damaged his quad muscle on his return to training. Warne had previously said Ozoh would be missing until after the November international break, and on Thursday he confirmed he expects Ozoh to return to training next week. It means he will miss Derby’s return to Championship action at Preston on Saturday (3pm).
Giving an injury update on his squad at his pre-match press conference, Warne also confirmed Jake Rooney is set to play for the club’s under-21s on Friday as he continues to recover from injury. “That’s another box ticked for him. He’s getting close,” he said.
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“It only leaves David (Ozoh), who hopefully should be on the grass with us next week.”
Warne insists the rest of his squad are refreshed and ready to resume their Championship campaign after the international break, having made a good start to the season to sit in 12th place after 15 matches. Saturday’s opponents Preston are down in 20th place.
“It’s another team that are better than where they’re at,” Warne said. “But you could say that about virtually every Championship team, apart from probably the top two.
“They’re a really well managed team. They haven’t had a great start, potentially, but they’ve been in all of the games and obviously Hecky (Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom), I’ve played against Hecky’s teams a lot and he’s a good friend of all of us. So I know how hard they work.
“It wouldn’t surprise you if after the weekend they went on and won three or four on the spin and that is how the Championship is. As with every game you have to be at your very best to get anything out of it and it will be another game like that.”
