Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United square off on Tuesday evening with the two clubs locked on the same points in the Championship standings.
They sit in 18th and 17th place respectively, a consequence of winning just five of their opening 15 matches in the second tier.
Match preview
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Heading into the final minute of their game with Queens Park Rangers on Friday night, Forest's rapid improvement under Steve Cooper was at risk of going to waste.
However, Jack Colback's last-gasp strike earned Forest a valuable point, making it 14 points from seven matches under their new head coach.
Despite failing to defeat either Fulham or the Hoops, it is important to remember how far Forest have come in the space of six weeks, the club moving from bottom spot to nine points above the relegation zone.
Nevertheless, a couple of victories before the international break would put Forest in the mix for promotion, a scenario deemed impossible not so long ago.
Forest's last three goals have all been scored in added-on time, a trend which will need to change if they are to maintain their push up the table.
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There was a time after the September international break when Sheffield United looked to be on an upward trajectory under Slavisa Jokanovic.
However, a five-match unbeaten streak has been followed by four defeats in six outings, keeping the Blades at the wrong end of the standings.
The signs are there that Jokanovic will be given time to get things right at Bramall Lane, but he cannot afford to come through the next two fixtures without posting a win.
On the back of successive home defeats to Millwall and Blackpool, the Serbian may welcome consecutive away fixtures versus Forest and Blackburn Rovers.
That said, Sheffield United have scored just seven times from as many games on the road this season, three of which came at Barnsley on October 24.
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Team News
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Alex Mighten, Philip Zinckernagel and Lyle Taylor are all pushing for recalls to the Forest starting lineup.
The remainder of the team could stay the same with James Garner missing out on a return in midfield.
Jokanovic will make changes to his Sheffield United side with David McGoldrick and Billy Sharp both in line to come back into the attack.
Conor Hourihane is an option in midfield, while Chris Basham will hope to be handed a fifth start of the campaign in defence.
Lys Mousset is expected to miss out with the injury that he sustained against Blackpool.
Nottingham Forest possible starting lineup:
Samba; Worrall, Figueiredo, McKenna; Spence, Yates, Colback, Lowe; Mighten, Zinckernagel; Taylor
Sheffield United possible starting lineup:
Olsen; Baldock, Egan, Davies, Stevens; Norwood, Fleck; Gibbs-White, Ndiaye, McGoldrick; Sharp
We say: Nottingham Forest 2-1 Sheffield United
Both clubs need a win on Tuesday night, leading us to predict an entertaining tussle in the East Midlands. No result would particularly surprise us, but we are backing Forest to edge this contest by the odd goal in three.
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 Sheffield United win with a probability of 43.47%. A win for Nottingham Forest had a probability of 28.81% and a draw had a probability of 27.7%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sheffield United win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.76%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.55%) and 0-2 (8.41%). The likeliest Nottingham Forest win was 1-0 (9.86%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.98%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 13% likelihood.
