Blackburn Rovers play host to Bristol City on Saturday afternoon aware that they potentially require all three points to remain in the Championship playoff places.
Meanwhile, Bristol City make the trip to Ewood Park down in 19th position in the standings, a consequence of losing four of their last five games.
Match preview
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Since the turn of the year, Blackburn have collected just 13 points from 12 matches in the Championship, leaving Rovers in 17th position in the form table.
However, Tony Mowbray's side have somehow managed to remain in fourth spot, albeit with many of the chasing pack possessing at least one match in hand.
On the face of it, a goalless draw at home to Millwall in midweek was an unsatisfactory result, but it at least kept the distance between themselves and the Lions to five points.
Nevertheless, regardless of their current position, Blackburn can only be viewed as outsiders for the playoffs given that they have failed to score more than one goal in a Championship fixture since December 29.
On the plus side, Blackburn still possess the third-best home record in the division, losing just three of 18 matches, but they are under massive pressure to post a 12th win on Saturday against their struggling opponents.
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Before Bristol City's recent run of three successive defeats, you had to go all the way back to October for a similar run, but Nigel Pearson is in no doubt that he has been left fighting for his future at the club.
A home fixture with Birmingham City had been seen as the ideal match to get back on track, but the Robins found themselves 2-0 down after just 13 minutes.
Although Alex Scott halved the deficit shortly after the break, Bristol City would record their sixth defeat in nine games, their 18th from 36 matches overall.
While the threat of relegation will not become an issue, Pearson and his squad must remain on a pride-salvaging mission after yet another under-achieving campaign for the club.
Bristol City have not recorded an away win in the Championship since beating Peterborough United in a five-goal thriller on October 2.
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Team News
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Ryan Hedges and Tyrhys Dolan will both be hoping for an opportunity for Blackburn after the combination of Ryan Giles and Sam Gallagher failed to score against Millwall.
Ryan Nyambe and Ben Brereton Diaz remain sidelined with knee and ankle injuries respectively, while Mowbray may take into consideration that Darragh Lenihan, Lewis Travis and John Buckley are all one yellow card away from a two-match ban.
While Pearson will consider reverting to a back three, he may also be willing to give a 4-3-1-2 formation another opportunity to succeed.
Sam Bell may get a chance to make an impression at right-back, despite being withdrawn at half time last time out, but Rob Atkinson is in contention for a recall.
Han-Noah Massengo is an alternative in central midfield if Pearson opts to make changes, although the front three should all retain their places.
Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:
Kaminski; Lenihan, Van Hecke, Wharton; Rankin-Costello, Travis, Rothwell, Pickering; Buckley; Dolan, Gallagher
Bristol City possible starting lineup:
Bentley; Kalas, Atkinson, Klose, Dasilva; Massengo, James, Scott; Weimann; Martin, Semenyo
We say: Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Bristol City
Despite their contrasting league positions, this game has the potential to be a hard-fought affair given that neither side are in good form. With that in mind, a low-scoring draw could play out at Ewood Park, a result which could be particularly damaging to Blackburn's promotion bid.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Blackburn Rovers win with a probability of 62.48%. A draw had a probability of 21.3% and a win for Bristol City had a probability of 16.23%.
The most likely scoreline for a Blackburn Rovers win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.55%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (11.25%) and 2-1 (9.87%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.12%), while for a Bristol City win it was 0-1 (5.2%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 5.2% likelihood.
