Eight match weeks into the 2023/24 League One season, Derby County are 13th in the table with three wins, one draw and three losses from seven games.

They were one of the favourites for immediate promotion last season after getting relegated from the Championship the season before, after receiving multiple point deductions because of several off-field issues.

Before the 2022/23 season began, Wayne Rooney left the club, with Liam Rosenoir being appointed interim manager until Paul Warne was appointed permanently a couple of months later.

Warne’s men missed out on the play-off spots on the final day last season, finishing in seventh place — one point behind Peterborough United. The disappointing form has carried onto the new season, and Derby has struggled for consistency.

The below visualisation shows the numbers behind the Rams’ season so far.

If we look at the rankings for goals scored and goals conceded, Derby rank joint-third for goals scored with 12 goals and have let in nine goals (joint-fourth highest in the league), having played one game less than most. Both of these are from an Expected Goals(xG) of 10.76 and Expected Goals Against(xGA) of 9.97. Both offensively and defensively, they are slightly overperforming and have been lucky enough on both ends of the pitch so far.

Their performance on PPDA (Passes-per-defensive-action), which tells us how quickly a team wins the ball after losing it, is slightly below the league average (11.13) at 10.62 PPDA and is good. They also seem to have the ball longer compared to the league average PPDA against, even though their possession this season has been an average of 44.3%.

Derby are right where they should be with 10 points and Expected points (xPTS) tally of 10.3 but have struggled for consistency in terms of performances, and if they are to push for promotion this season, their form, especially at home, needs to improve in a big way.