Derby County duo closing in on returns as Eustace provides updates on latest injury worries

Derby County boss John Eustace says Joe Ward, David Ozoh and Henrik Meister will all need to be assessed ahead of Tuesday’s game against Norwich, while Matt Clarke and Patrick Agyemang have returned to full training.

Ward suffered a back issue and remains a doubt for the midweek clash.

“He’s going to be touch and go for tomorrow night for sure,” Eustace told the Derby Telegraph.

“He had a back spasm on Friday unfortunately just prior to training so we obviously had to change things around.

“Hopefully he won’t be too bad. We assessed him today, he was a little bit better so let’s see for tomorrow.”

Ozoh is also a doubt after taking a heavy blow to his back.

“He took a real nasty blow to the back,” Eustace said.

“I think he’s just strained a ligament in there. So we’ll see if he’s available for tomorrow.”

Meister will need to be checked, meanwhile, after suffering a knee problem.

“Henrik came off as well with a knee problem at the time which was a blow,” Eustace added.

“We’ll have to assess him tomorrow.”

There was more positive news for Derby, however, with long-term absentees Clarke and Agyemang both returning to full training.

“We had Matt Clarke and Patrick training fully today which was brilliant,” Eustace said.

“There was a great buzz around the place. It lifted everyone seeing those two back on the training pitch so it’s a massive plus for us.”