Derby County Hosts Middlesbrough in Championship Clash

Derby County will host promotion-chasing Middlesbrough at Pride Park on Thursday in a key English Football League Championship clash, as both teams seek to sharpen their form at the start of 2026. The match kicks off at 3:00 p.m. GMT, offering the 14th-placed Rams a chance to close the gap to the playoff spots while second-place Boro aim to maintain pressure on league leaders Coventry City.

Derby enter the fixture on the back of a 2-1 defeat to Leicester City on Monday, marking their eighth league loss of the season and leaving them six points adrift of the top six with 32 points from 24 games. The Rams have managed just one victory in their last seven outings, a win against bottom-side Sheffield Wednesday, followed by three draws and three losses. Their recent struggles include a goalless stalemate with Portsmouth and a 1-1 draw against Birmingham City on Boxing Day, before the setback at the King Power Stadium where Rhian Brewster equalized only for Leicester to pull ahead. At home, Derby have gone four games without a win since beating Hull City in early November and have conceded 18 goals in 12 Pride Park matches this season, more than all but two other teams in the division.