Derby County vs Milton Keynes Dons - Darren Wassall begins Derby tenure against MK Dons

Academy director Darren Wassall will take charge of Derby for the first time when they begin life after Paul Clement at home to MK Dons.

The Championship promotion contenders made the surprise decision to sack Clement, just eight months into his first managerial role, on Monday and former Rams defender Wassall has been handed the reins for the rest of the season.

Wassall will have an unchanged, and expensively assembled, squad to select from with just Will Hughes (knee) and Jake Buxton (back), who have been long-term absentees, and Max Lowe, out for the remainder of the campaign with a knee injury, unavailable.

Wassall's appointment cold see young midfielder Jamie Hanson involved in the squad again while the likes of Bradley Johnson, Jacob Butterfield, Nick Blackman, Tom Ince and Stephen Warnock will be pushing for recalls.

MK Dons will travel with an unchanged squad.

Milton Keynes manager Karl Robinson remains without midfielders Carl Baker (ankle) and Ben Reeves (thigh) but still has plenty of options at his disposal.

The Dons were denied victory against Middlesbrough in midweek by Jordan Rhodes' injury-time equaliser and, after an otherwise solid defensive display, Robinson will keep his back four the same. However, changes in midfield and attack are likely.

Darren Potter, Daniel Powell, Jonathan Williams, Nicky Maynard and Rob Hall all began on the bench on Tuesday night and will come into Robinson's thinking for starting roles at the iPro Stadium.