Derby County will look to keep their faint play-off hopes alive when manager Gary Rowett faces former side Birmingham City at St Andrew’s on Saturday.

The Rams kept in touch with the top six as they beat fellow contenders Fulham 4-2 at the Pride Park Stadium on Tuesday night – they are now seven points behind sixth-placed Sheffield Wednesday with six matches of the Championship season remaining.

Rowett will know that his men will possibly have to win all of those to have a good chance of snatching a play-off spot, and Birmingham are the first team to stand in his way.

When the Midlands outfit sacked Rowett in December – despite the fact that they were just three points adrift of third place – there was a lot of shock in the football world as Gianfranco Zola quickly succeeded the 43-year-old at St Andrew’s.

While things haven’t gone brilliantly for the Italian so far, here are THREE reasons why Birmingham will end Rowett’s play-off dream this weekend…

Birmingham are improving

While Gianfranco Zola and the owners would have hoped that the Italian could keep the Blues fighting at the right end of the table following Rowett’s sacking, it hasn’t quite worked out like that.

The 50-year-old didn’t pick up his first win until the start of February, and he has won just two of the 19 Championship matches he has taken charge of this term.

That said City are looking as though they are finally turning the corner with three draws from their last four matches, and they could take that momentum into this clash.

Derby's frailties

While Rowett has won two and drawn one of his three Championship matches in charge, his side have shown frailties at certain points that will have worried him.

The first half performance and last-gasp equaliser they conceded in the 2-2 draw against arch-rivals Nottingham Forest at the City Ground was disappointing, and they let in two again in the victory against Fulham during the week.

The 43-year-old will want to see more resoluteness from his backline at St Andrew’s on Saturday - otherwise they could be in trouble again.

Zola will want to beat Rowett

When the Italian replaced the popular Rowett in January, it would have left a lot of neutrals wanting the club – and perhaps him – to fail because they believed it was such an undeserved dismissal.

Zola will be itching to prove those people wrong on Saturday when he welcomes the former Blues boss back to St Andrew’s for the first time, and the 50-year-old will be keen to show the owners and supporters that he can build momentum for a potential promotion push next term by taking all three points against Derby.

Do you agree, Rams fans? Let us know below.

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