Derby County vs Brentford - George Thorne returns to Derby squad for Championship clash with Brentford

George Thorne will return to the Derby squad for the visit of Brentford in the Sky Bet Championship.

Thorne missed the victory over MK Dons with a recurrence of a calf problem so captain Chris Baird filled the holding role in midfield in Milton Keynes.

Baird has sat out training a couple of days this week due to illness but he joined in with the rest of the squad again on Thursday. With Thorne likely to go straight back into the team, Rams head coach Paul Clement probably has a decision to make between Cyrus Christie and Baird at right-back.

Craig Bryson is receiving injections to speed up his return from the knee injury that has sidelined him since the opening day of the season.

Injury-hit Brentford will add John Swift to their squad after signing the young midfielder on a month's loan from Chelsea.

James Tarkowski returns after missing Tuesday's 2-0 defeat by Birmingham through suspension, but fellow defender Alan McCormack serves a one-match ban after picking up his fifth booking of the season.

Boss Lee Carsley, who began his playing career with Derby, has a lengthy casualty list with Philipp Hofmann (stomach), Marcos Tebar (hamstring), Maxime Colin (knee), Sam Saunders (calf) and Lewis Macleod (hamstring) missing.

Josh McEachran (foot), Andreas Bjelland (knee), Jota (ankle) and Scott Hogan (knee) are long-term absentees.