Rotherham face their third game in six days as they welcome Birmingham City to New York Stadium in Sunday’s big Sky Bet Championship clash.
Victory will see Rotherham stay just inside the relegation zone but move to within a point of Derby, whereas Birmingham City can go 18th with a win.
Team News
Joe Mattock remains absent for Rotherham as he steps up his training following a lengthy ankle injury.
Paul Warne could meanwhile rotate his starting eleven again as he looks to keep his squad fresh in their battle against the drop.
Birmingham will be without Jon Toral after a hamstring injury has ruled out the midfielder for the remainder of this season.
Scott Hogan (hip) and Caolan Boyd-Munce (thigh) are doubts.
Stat Attack
- Rotherham have won just one of nine Championship meetings against Birmingham City (W1, D3, L5).
- Birmingham have dropped just four points out of a maximum 12 points from four previous Championship trips to Rotherham (W2, D2).
- Thursday’s 1-0 defeat means that Rotherham haven’t scored in consecutive hoe games since a six match run between December 2020 – February 2021.
- Birmingham are yet to score away from home since Lee Bowyer took charge last month (D1, L1).
- Rotherham lost their only previous home game refereed by Tim Robinson this season, losing 2-0 to Brentford in Matchweek 15.
Prediction
Having fought back to defeat QPR on Tuesday, Rotherham will be disappointed to have not claimed at least a point from Thursday’s loss to Coventry but the extra rest day should hopefully have them refreshed for what is now an major must-win game in their survival bid.
Birmingham meanwhile have had over a week to prepare for this game so cannot afford to underestimate the Millers, especially given their poor away form since early February but do look reignited under Bowyer which should give them hope.
Six points however split both teams meaning that a win for Birmingham will almost certainly see them safe from the drop, whereas Rotherham know that a win will give them real belief on top of having two further games in hand.
On that note, I expect this to be a close contest given Birmingham’s strong form in this fixture but if Rotherham can play with grit and real team spirit, they should have enough in them to defeat a team whose away form isn’t the most strongest.
Prediction: Rotherham 1-0 Birmingham City
Result: Rotherham 0-1 Birmingham City
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