Derby County Faces Crisis as Widell Zetterstrom Injury Deepens

Derby County’s season has taken another heavy blow, and this one could linger.

Jacob Widell Zetterstrom, the goalkeeper they fought hard to keep in the summer, is facing up to two months out with a knee injury picked up in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Birmingham City.

He went down in the second half at St Andrew’s, looking at one stage certain to come off. Instead, he stayed on, played through the pain and finished the game. The damage, though, has now caught up with him.

The 28-year-old has withdrawn from the Sweden squad for their four upcoming Nations League group games against Romania, Poland and Bosnia-Herzegovina in late September and early October. Derby do not expect him back until mid-November.

For a side already stuck in the lower reaches of the Championship, that is a brutal timeline. Across that spell, Widell Zetterstrom could miss as many as eight league fixtures, a run that will shape the Rams’ autumn.

And he is far from the only concern.

Before the Swede’s injury on Saturday, Henrik Meister had already left the pitch on a stretcher after a head knock, another jarring moment in a game that left Derby with more than just a defeat to digest.

Both now join an increasingly crowded treatment room. Matt Clarke, Derry Murkin, Filip Bilbija, Rhian Brewster, Craig Forsyth and Lewis Travis are all already sidelined, leaving the squad stretched and the manager’s options thin at a time when the club can least afford it.

Widell Zetterstrom’s absence cuts deepest. His performances at the World Cup attracted serious transfer interest in the summer, yet Derby managed to keep him, building their plans around his presence and authority at the back.

Now those plans have to change.

Josh Vickers, named on the bench in every game so far this season, is in line to step up as first choice. He inherits not just the gloves, but the responsibility of steadying a team battling form, fitness and the Championship’s relentless schedule.

Derby wanted this campaign to be about progress and momentum. For the next two months, it may simply be about survival.