Derby County Faces Injury Blow as Widell Zetterstrom Out for Two Months

Derby County’s season has taken another hit, and this one lands right between the posts.

Jacob Widell Zetterstrom, the goalkeeper Derby fought hard to keep in the summer, faces 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 and, for a moment, it looked like his afternoon was over. Physios rushed on, the stretcher hovered in the background, and Derby fans braced for the worst. Instead, the 28-year-old chose to carry on, finishing the Championship match despite clearly being in discomfort.

The damage has now caught up with him.

Scans have forced him to pull out of the Sweden squad for their four upcoming Nations League group games against Romania, Poland and Bosnia-Herzegovina in late September and early October. For a keeper whose World Cup performances had already put him on plenty of scouting lists, it is a brutal interruption.

For Derby, the timing is even worse.

Widell Zetterstrom is not expected back until mid-November. That lay-off could see him miss as many as eight league fixtures for a Rams side already limping through an injury crisis and stuck in the lower reaches of the table. Stability at the back was one of the few pillars they could lean on. That has just been kicked away.

The chaos started early against Birmingham. Before Widell Zetterstrom’s knee became the main concern, Henrik Meister had already been taken off on a stretcher after a head knock, another worrying sight on a grim afternoon.

Both now join an already packed treatment room. Matt Clarke, Derry Murkin, Filip Bilbija, Rhian Brewster, Craig Forsyth and Lewis Travis are all sidelined, leaving Derby’s squad stretched thin and their manager short of options in almost every department.

Between the sticks, the solution is clear, even if the task is daunting. Josh Vickers, on the bench for every game so far this season, is expected to step in as first choice. He inherits a defence missing experience, a team searching for rhythm and a club desperate for a foothold in a campaign that keeps slipping away.

Derby did well to resist the summer interest in Widell Zetterstrom after his World Cup displays. Now they must navigate a critical spell without him, hoping their stand-in can hold the line until their No 1 is fit to throw himself back into the chaos.