Mick McCarthy will have a close eye on in-form Derby striker Matej Vydra at Pride Park tomorrow night.

Mick McCarthy will have a close eye on in-form Derby striker Matej Vydra at Pride Park tomorrow night.

Rams boss Gary Rowett hailed his Czech forward as ‘the best number 10 in the league’ following his hat-trick against Middlesbrough at the weekend, with McCarthy admitting he and his side will be doing all they can to keep him quiet.

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“You have to take care of them,” McCarthy said. “It really is bonkers to think, unless you are Manchester City, that you can just turn up and simply play how you play. Or Manchester United, or Chelsea in their pomp. I doubt Tottenham turned up and played Real Madrid without giving one solitary thought to how the opposition played.

“We have to do that every week, especially when you have players playing as well as that.

“I did on Saturday, I had Dominic on against Albert Adomah and I thought ‘well, he’s never going to lick him for pace’ because he can cope with that. It happened in other ways.

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“So we will be trying to contain Vydra.”

Vydra has found the net 12 times this season, including five in his last three games.