Derby County will play their 42nd Sky Bet Championship match of 2025/26 when they travel to Southampton on Saturday afternoon (3pm kick-off).
The Rams head to the South Coast buoyed by a confident win on home turf on Easter Monday, as they scored two without reply against Stoke City at Pride Park Stadium – the fifth home win in a row for John Eustace’s team.
Meanwhile, opponents Southampton are also in hot form coming into the tie, having confidently dispatched fellow play-off chasing rivals Wrexham 5-1 in Wales on Tuesday night to extend their unbeaten streak in league competition to 13 matches.
Ticket Information
Derby will be backed by a sold-out away end in Hampshire.
The Rams were handed a total allocation of 3,008 tickets for the match, and these have now completely sold out, with no further seats being made available.
Those fans without a ticket are advised not to make the trip to St. Mary’s Stadium, as they will be unable to gain access to the ground.
Pre-Match Thoughts
Head Coach John Eustace spoke to RamsTV to look back on Easter Monday’s win over Stoke City and look ahead to his side’s away clash with Southampton.
Midfielder David Ozoh also caught up with RamsTV ahead of Saturday’s St. Mary’s trip.
The Opposition
After a tough start to the season, Southampton found themselves in 21st place after 13 matches.
Having suffered relegation from the Premier League in the 2024/25 season, following promotion the season before, the Saints were hoping to bounce straight back to the top flight.
Will Still was recruited as Head Coach ahead of the 2025/26 campaign, bringing a pedigree from his time managing in Belgium and France. The appointment proved not to be the solution, with Still departing on 2nd November.
The club then placed Tonda Eckert, their Under-21s Head Coach, into the hot seat on an interim basis before making the role permanent a month later, after he guided Southampton to four wins from his first five matches.
German coach Eckert had prior experience in English football and the Championship in his role as the assistant coach to Valérien Ismaël at Barnsley in 2020/21.
He had previously coached in his homeland and Austria, with stints at FC Köln, Red Bull Salzburg, RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich before heading to Oakwood.
His last job before joining the Saints came at Italian Serie A side Genoa, where he spent three years as assistant to Patrick Vieira, Alexander Blessin and Alberto Gilardino between 2022 and 2025.
Of his 27 league matches at the helm with Southampton, Eckert has overseen 16 wins and six draws. This form has seen the St. Mary’s club fire up the table and well into the play-off picture with six matches of their season remaining – a feat that seemed unachievable with the club poised for another season in the second tier at the turn of the new year.
The scale of their current form cannot be underestimated either, as the Saints remain unbeaten in their last 16 matches, last losing out to Hull City on home turf since then. The run includes 10 wins and three draws in the league and three further victories in the Emirates FA Cup.
Eckert’s side have defeated two Premier League outfits in Fulham on 8th March and top flight leaders Arsenal at the start of April to book themselves a place in the FA Cup Semi-Final against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium.
Finn Azaz leads the goal contributions in the league for Southampton this season, with 10 goals and six assists, closely followed by striker Adam Armstrong, who departed the club for Wolverhampton Wanderers in January with 11 goals and four assists.
Summer signing Léo Scienza swapped the Bundesliga for Championship football when he flew into the Saints from FC Heidenheim, and he has impressed in red and white, netting six times and providing eight assists in the league.
Match Officials
Andrew Kitchen will be the man in the middle on Good Friday, officiating his 23rd Championship fixture this season.
Kitchen has held the whistle in seven Derby matches, including three this season, a 2-1 away defeat to Burnley in the Carabao Cup Second Round and both of the Rams’ wins over Swansea City in the Sky Bet Championship, at the Swansea.com Stadium in November 2025 and at Pride Park Stadium in February 2026.
Across his 28 games in all competitions so far in 2025/26, he has shown a total of 82 yellow cards, one second yellow dismissal and two straight red cards.
Shaun Hudson and George Byrne have been named as the Assistant Referees; Josh Smith has been appointed as the Fourth Official.
RamsTV Audio & Video Coverage
Live audio commentary for all of Derby County’s first team matches in the 2025/26 season – both league and cup fixtures – is available to RamsTVAudio subscribers based both in the UK and internationally.
Information about RamsTV’sVideo Live Streaming and other services for this game can be found here.
Highlights & Match Replay
Full match reaction will be available on dcfc.co.uk and the Derby County App shortly after full time, with highlights and a full match replay available from midnight.