Stoke City boss pays Derby County compliment but then sounds warning

Stoke City boss Narcis Pelach says Derby County are the "best team" in the Championship at set-pieces but vowed his side will "go for it" when they clash tomorrow (12.30pm).

The Rams head to the bet 365 Stadium looking for a first away win of the season and are currently on a four-game unbeaten run although three of their last games ended in 1-1 draws. Stoke, by contrast, are winless in five and sit below Derby in the table and have turned to Pelach to lead a charge towards the top half of the table after sacking Steven Schumacher.

Speaking today, Pelach noted that Derby pose a serious threat from deadball situations with Paul Warne's side having scored nine goals already from corners and free-kicks. While that has helped lead Derby to make a solid start, Pelach warned that the Championship can change "very quickly".

"They have two clear strengths, one is set plays – the best team in the division for set pieces and they’ve scored a lot of goals already," he said.

"Then they are very good at attacking big spaces, counter-attacking, in transitions, when they have big spaces they are good. We have to try to adapt this and tweak things as we always do. We will play our own game too and not change everything because of them because we have our own style and we have to respect that in order to grow and become something strong in the future.

"But of course we need to see the opposition. They’ve started really well and they come with positivity, this energy that promotion gives to you. They are in a comfortable position, a little bit different than us, but the season is long, the Championship can change very quickly and lots of games will come and we are quite confident we can do well in this game so we will go for it."

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