Mark Robins will this week be plotting a way for Coventry City to get three consecutive Championship wins for the first time since March when they thumped Rotherham at home before getting back-to-back away wins at Watford and Huddersfield, with the FA Cup victory at Wolves thrown in for good measure.
Having taken six points off Luton Town and Middlesbrough in their last two matches, the Sky Blues now turn their attention to another game at the CBS Arena when they host Midland rivals Derby County on Wednesday night.
The City manager made three changes at the Riverside Stadium at the weekend, one of which was forced due to a foot injury to striker Ellis Simms, but will he tinker with a winning team against the Rams?
There might be a case to make use of his wider squad with three games in the space of eight days in mind, considering there will be a quick turn-around for Saturday’s trip to Sunderland, but there doesn’t seem any reason why he would change Oliver Dovin in goal, or the back three of Joel Latibeaudiere, Bobby Thomas and Luis Binks after the weekend’s welcome clean sheet in the 3-0 success on Teesside. Central midfield is also pretty stable at the minute with Josh Eccles continuing to grow in stature alongside skipper Ben Sheaf.
Back to form Milan van Ewijk has been impressive to right wing-back in his last two outings while Jack Rudoni has been doing an admirable job on the left where he’s currently preferred to Jay Dasilva at a time when Jake Bidwell is out injured.
The number ten role has been shared between Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Victor Torp, with the Japanese player starting against Luton and replaced by Torp later on in the 3-2 comeback win, while the Dane started Saturday’s match and was replaced by Sakamoto. But given it’s a home game, perhaps Robins will be tempted to go with the more attack-minded Tatsu.
That leaves the front two, assuming the manager sticks with a 3-4-1-2 formation. Haji Wright took his season’s tally to six by scoring in his third consecutive league game at the weekend, and is a certain starter. Who partners him may well depend on Simms’ fitness. If the centre-forward – who was excellent and got a goal against Luton – has recovered from a sore foot then there’s a strong argument to put him back in after missing the Boro game.
Brandon Thomas-Asante, meanwhile, did a decent job in his place and will be favourite to continue if Simms is a doubt. Norman Bassette, meanwhile, is another exciting option who, like Thomas-Asante, provides bags and pace and non-stop running.
Predicted City team against Derby: Oliver Dovin; Joel Latibeaudiere, Bobby Thomas, Luis Binks; Milan van Ewijk, Josh Eccles, Ben Sheaf, Jack Rudoni; Tatsuhiro Sakamoto; Ells Simms, Haji Wright.
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