Derby have made three changes for this game.

Ryan Nyambe, Tom Barkhuizen and Kayden Jackson are out with Kane Wilson, Nat Phillips and Liam Thompson starting.

Todd Cantwell and Adam Forshaw are on the bench for Blackburn with Sondre Tronstad and Yuki Ohashi replacing them.

Sunderland have named the same side which beat Sheffield Wednesday eight days ago for this one.

Cardiff have made three changes from the side beaten by Burnley in midweek.

Andy Rinomhota, Alex Robertson and Cian Ashford step out with Rubin Colwill, top scorer Callum Robinson and Isaak Davies starting.

Plymouth have made three changes from the side beaten by Hull City.

Tymoteusz Puchacz, Jordan Houghton and Rami Al Hajj drop to the bench with Nathanael Ogbeta, Callum Wright and Malachi Boateng coming into the side.

Just the one change for Sheffield Wednesday today with Pol Valentin replaced by Dominic Iorfa who returns from two months out injured.

Andrew Aloia
BBC Sport at Pride Park

Blackburn Rovers fans are making their dislike of their former John Eustace fairly very clear.

How, you ask? Well, there appears to be a few toy snakes, and maybe a few inflatable serpents being waved about by the traveling support today.

The message they are trying to get across is pretty straightforward considering Eustace is the boss that abandoned their promotion push in February to take charge of relegation-battling Derby.

Eight games with big consequences at the top and bottom are getting under way.

Time for some fun...

Image source, PA Media

Teams are making their way out in plenty of glorious early Spring sunshine.

Eight matches on the way.

Let's see what the next 90 or so minutes brings...

Image source, PA Media

Eyebrows were raised when Burnley smashed four goals past Luton in a dominant away win between these two sides on the opening day of the season at Kenilworth Road.

The Hatters finished two points and one place above the Clarets as both were relegated from the Premier League in their first season after winning promotion, as well as rock bottom Sheffield United.

Rob Edwards' Luton side were one of the favourites to make an instant return to the top tier having held on to many of the players who had taken them there the first time round.

Yet they travel to Turf Moor today with Edwards gone, having been replaced by former Wycombe Wanderers boss Matt Bloomfield in January, and in the Championship drop zone - with the grim spectre of back-to-back relegations looming large.

Meanwhile in Lancashire, Burnley have established the league's meanest defence under Scott Parker - conceding an astonishing 10 goals in 35 games and recording a scarcely believable 25 shutouts.

Before Yousef Salech headed in for Cardiff City in their last outing the Clarets had not conceded a league goal this calendar year, while Luton's 1-0 win against Portsmouth last time out was their first victory since December.

Samantha Fletcher
Final Score

At a sun drenched Hawthorns, West Brom are celebrating International Women’s Day with ‘Her Game Too’ members as flag bearers.

There are also Q&A sessions with newly appointed women’s manager Siobhan Hodgetts-Still and a young female supporter helping with PA announcements.

On the pitch, the Baggies are looking to stay in the top six with victory.

Image source, Getty Images

Marti Cifuentes' QPR visit West Brom looking to bounce back from consecutive defeats - but The Hawthorns has not been a happy hunting ground for the Hoops.

Just one win in 12 since the turn of the millennium does not make for happy reading - and neither will the memories of their 7-1 demolition in the Black Country in 2018 - for Rs fans.

Tony Mowbray's Baggies go into the game sixth in the Championship, occupying the final play-off spot, and unbeaten in three matches.

Josh Maja bagged a hat-trick as West Brom ran out comfortable winners in the reverse fixture at Loftus Road on the opening weekend.

Just look at how much that 97th-minute victory meant to Frank Lampard and his Coventry players.

It's nine wins in 10 league games for the Sky Blues now.

Incredible.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

If Middlesbrough beat Swansea then that could see them jump into the Championship's top six this Saturday afternoon if results go their way.

Boro are ninth in the table, but after five consecutive losses they have seemingly managed to get back on track with back-to-back wins.

They are looking for three consecutive victories for the first time since November 2024.

Swansea City have failed to win any of their last seven league games against Middlesbrough, since a 2-1 win in March 2021.

The Swans are 16th and 10 points clear of the league's relegation zone with two wins in their last five games.

Ben Croucher
Final Score

Want to know what it's like being a Derby fan right now?

"The worst Derby team since we got 11 points in the Premier League," so says my Rams supporting friend Katie.

A 'mess' said another. Safe to say optimism of avoiding an immediate return to League One is in short supply.

In his programme notes, manager John Eustace says they need to take the next step, adding the desire, commitment and unity is there. Trouble is - that step may not be up.

Andrew Aloia
BBC Sport at Pride Park

It’s a gorgeous sunny day at Pride Park today, but the metaphorical storm clouds still hang over this place with Derby County battling for their Championship lives.

Whatever positive feel there might have been with John Eustace's arrival as boss in February, has evaporated with three defeats in his first three games, in which they have also failed to score.

Another loss today will see him set an unwanted record as the first Derby boss to suffer four defeats in his first four league matches.

And talk about awkward reunions, as the side that can consign him to the history books is the Blackburn Rovers side he abandoned in the middle of a promotion push.

Image source, Rex Features

From promotion hopefuls to relegation battlers - it's not a move you hear about every day but it's the choice John Eustace made last month when leaving Blackburn to join his former club Derby.

Now, marry in haste, regret at leisure is an old saying, but Eustace seems comfortable with his choice and was keen to reaffirm that in his pre-match news conference this week.

"When you get 27,000 fans at home, 5,000 away, working in a fantastic environment it's set for the Premier League and I want to play my part to make sure Derby get back, however long that takes," he told BBC Radio Derby.

His Rams team have lost all three games he has been in charge of, failed to score and are now seven points from safety.

Eustace's former club, Blackburn roll into Pride Park today with only goal difference keeping them out of the play-off places albeit they have now lost the services of top scorer Andreas Weimann for the rest of the season.

Valerien Ismael is the new man in charge of Rovers and is keen to focus on the game rather than the personalities.

"For me it is more about the game being against Derby County - I know John was the manager here and did a great job last season and then to rebuild the squad and compete for the play-offs but he has his own issues at the minute - he needs the points and we need the points for a different reason," the Frenchman said.

That could well be the case but Blackburn's travelling support might not be so charitable today.

Image source, Getty Images

Just two defeats in 11 Championship matches since the turn of the year have sent Bristol City within touching distance of a play-off spot and a chance of a return to the top tier for the first time in more than 40 years.

Not since Alan Dicks' side in 1980 have the Robins sat at the top table - but Liam Manning's team have quietly climbed to within goal difference of the top six and could end the weekend as high as fifth.

"We're happy together, we are a real tight-knit unit, we have each other's backs," defender Zak Vyner told BBC Radio Bristol.

"What stands out this year is in games that don't look like anything happening we still all have the belief on the pitch that something is going to happen and that showed [against Millwall in a 2-0 victory at The Den].

"We're turning those into wins, and that's the difference this year. We are a strong unit and hopefully we can continue the form we're in."

They welcome a Hull City side at the opposite end of the table looking over their shoulder, 19th and five points above the drop zone.

Oscar Estupinan's 91st-minute penalty salvaged a point for the Tigers in a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture in August.

Andy Sixsmith
Final Score

A milestone day awaits for Sunderland - becoming the 14th club to play 5,000 league fixtures in football league history. (Can you name the other 13?)

A huge display will greet both the Black Cats and the Bluebirds before kick-off - but will it be Sunderland clawing their way back into the automatic promotion race - or Cardiff flying clear of relegation at full-time?

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Rex Features

From the kings of consistency to the princes of inconsistency - Sunderland have hit a wobble at exactly the wrong time.

Victory over Sheffield Wednesday last week snapped a two-game losing streak but automatic promotion now looks out of reach.

The plus for the Black Cats is, such had been their form up until this little hiccup they look nailed-on for a play-off spot with a 13-point cushion to seventh-placed Bristol City.

Only Leeds and Sheffield United have more points at home than Sunderland this season and they will fancy the job against travel-sick Cardiff.

The Bluebirds became the first team to score a league goal against Burnley for 1,132 minutes in midweek but still lost.

Currently five points clear of the relegation zone the Welshmen are the ones in the immediate sights of the three sides below them and three wins from their past 12 league games is a cause for concern.

Only Plymouth (0) have won fewer than Cardiff's one game on the road this season but they arrive at The Stadium of Light today having won on each of their three previous visits.

Image source, Rex Features

Beating England's current top dogs is nothing to be sniffed at.

Running England's defending champions close is something to behold.

The problem for Plymouth is the FA Cup win over Liverpool and subsequent heroic defeat by Manchester City won't help their Championship plight - only points and wins will do that.

In Miron Muslic they have found an inspirational leader, but there is a six-point gap to bridge and games against Sheffield Wednesday, Portsmouth and Derby in the next week may be the key as to whether they can open the door to safety.

The worst defensive record in England's top four divisions has been shored up by Nikola Katic and Maksym Talovierov - now they just need to find the goals.

Three successive defeats and only three wins from their past 10 games have dropped Sheffield Wednesday off the pace in the chase for a top-six finish.

A seven point gap, even with 11 games remaining is going to take some clawing back but their away form has been decent this season with only the top four having won more games on the road than Wednesday.

They have won their past two at Plymouth and making it three in a row for the first time in their history is paramount if they are to resurrect their play-off dream.