WILL Hughes is an injury doubt ahead of Derby County's Championship clash against Bolton Wanderers at Pride Park tonight.
A groin strain forced the 17-year-old midfielder off after 63 minutes of Saturday's goalless draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
"We hope Will makes it but we are not sure at the moment. We haven't ruled him out," said manager Nigel Clough.
Hughes has featured in every game this season and has started all but one of the 35 fixtures.
"Will's injury just came on in the first half of the Wolves game," said Clough.
"It's probably to do with playing too many games and everything, especially with his body not being fully developed, muscle-wise. That doesn't help."
Derby will be without Gareth Roberts (suspended), Mark O'Brien (knee) and James O'Connor (knee).
They will run a late check on Jake Buxton's fitness.
Buxton returned to action in the draw at Sheffield Wednesday after being out for nine weeks with a knee injury. He tweaked the same knee and missed out against Wolves.
"We'll wait and see if we can get him back involved but the risk is that he will tweak his knee again," said Clough.
"Jimmy (O'Connor) only tweaked his knee and he is going to be two or three weeks. We don't want Jake to miss another two or three weeks.
"If he has to miss another game to get right, we will do that."
Defender Tom Naylor could head out on loan again this week. The 21-year-old recently returned from a spell with League Two club Bradford City, where he made five appearances.
Last week, he turned down a loan move to a Conference club, believed to be leaders Grimsby Town.
"He had an opportunity to go out last week and turned it down, which surprised us. There is a possibility of something else this week," said Rams manager Nigel Clough.
Grimsby joint-manager Paul Hurst has distanced himself from speculation linking the Mariners with a move for Naylor.
"As far as I'm aware, I think he might be joining another club in our league," said Hurst.
Naylor made eight starts at right-back for Derby last season. His one appearance this term was as a sub in the Capital One Cup tie against Scunthorpe United in August.
