Paul Jewell is desperately hoping his Derby side can win at home to Fulham on Saturday and avoid being relegated in front of their own fans.The long-suffering Rams could finally be put out of their misery if they fail to beat their fellow strugglers at Pride Park and Birmingham beat Manchester City at St Andrews.

Since his arrival at the end of November, Jewell has consistently praised the supporters for standing by his team, with another sell-out crowd expected for the visit of the Cottagers.

It has amazed Jewell the die-hard fans have not turned their backs in droves on a team on course to set a number of unwanted all-time records in English football.

So the last thing he wants is for them to witness the final nail being hammered into their Premier League coffin by a team who could join them next season in the Championship

"Fulham have a chance of staying up, so I guess they will see this as a must-win game," assessed Jewell.

"It has all the ingredients, that if things go against us, it will be d-day for us as far as relegation is concerned.

"We don't want that, particularly in front of our home fans, if we can avoid it.

"This is a game we're capable of winning, so hopefully it can be a decent game for the supporters, and more importantly we come away with something."

Jewell is simply hoping for a full 90-minute display from his team as the fans saw, and applauded, in the 1-0 home loss to Manchester United two weeks ago.

"We wanted to take our display from that game into the one with Middlesbrough last Saturday, and we didn't," added Jewell, as the Rams suffered a 1-0 defeat at the Riverside.

"At least for the last half hour we passed the ball as well as I have seen us pass it since I've been here, creating a couple of good opportunities.

"But that was after a disappointing first-half performance, so again we didn't put 90 minutes together.

"We just didn't perform in the first half, and that's been the rule rather than the exception."

Yet Jewell maintains that despite the fact his side are almost down, he has still to make a number of decisions as to who stays and goes this summer.

"On some players I've made my mind up, and some have seven games, so you never know what can happen," said Jewell.

"That is what I do as a manager, make decisions for what I believe is for the good of the club.

"Any decision I make, whether I get it right or wrong, will be made because I believe it is right for this football club."

Alan Stubbs will again miss out with a calf injury that has seen him miss the last two games, but Roy Carroll and Mile Sterjovski have recovered from groin problems sustained at Boro.

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