Entering the weekend on top of the League One table, an immediate return to the Championship is beginning to look like a real possibility for Rotherham United, who will be extremely confident of a comfortable victory at home to Accrington Stanley this Saturday.
Floating around in mid-table, there is little chance that Accrington will be able to sustain a playoff push, with their targets for the remainder of the season focusing on achieving a top-half finish.
Match preview
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A delight to watch at times this season, Rotherham are deserved leaders of the third tier at this current stage of the campaign, but they will be wary of the two games in hand that second-placed Wigan Athletic boast over them.
Currently three points ahead of the Latics, Rotherham know that they cannot afford any slip-ups if they wish to be promoted as champions.
In the middle of a four-game winning streak, Rotherham enter the clash with Accrington in strong form, while only conceding once during 450 minutes of football.
Prolific scorers at the opposite end too, no side in the division have netted more goals than the Millers, with only fourth-placed Milton Keynes Dons having matched their tally of 53 for the season so far.
All of this spells bad news for Accrington, who have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their last five League One outings, while only netting more than one goal on two occasions in their previous eight matches.
Nine points above the drop zone with just over a quarter of the campaign to play suggests Accrington will be safe from the drop this season, with a further 13-point gap between themselves and the playoff positions.
Unlikely to finish anywhere other than mid-table this season, the Owd Reds will be eyeing up yet another victory over Rotherham, having won the previous two match-ups between the pair.
In fact, it was Accrington who ended Rotherham's club-record unbeaten run with their victory back in December – a streak that sat at 21 games prior to the match at the Wham Stadium.
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Team News
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One of the key factors behind their high-scoring form has been the performances of Michael Smith, who has netted 16 goals in 27 league matches this season.
The striker will partner Will Grigg up-front, with creativity coming in the shape of dynamic midfielder Ben Wiles, who is expected to play off the left.
A back three of Joe Mattock, Michael Ihiekwe and Wes Harding will look to keep the Accrington attack quiet, while goalkeeper Josh Vickers is eyeing up a fourth clean sheet in five games.
For the visitors, they are likely to line up with a flat back four of Mitch Clark, Ross Sykes, Michael Nottingham and Yeboah Amankwah, with Toby Savin retaining his place between the sticks.
Centre-back Nottingham was on the scoresheet during last weekend's against Morecambe, along with Colby Bishop, who is expected to start up top for Accrington.
Rotherham United possible starting lineup:
Vickers; Harding, Ihiekwe, Mattock; Barlaser, Ogbene, Miller, Rathbone, Wiles; Grigg, Smith
Accrington Stanley possible starting lineup:
Savin; Clark, Skyes, Nottingham, Amankwah; O'Sullivan, Pell, Butcher, Hamilton, McConville; Bishop
We say: Rotherham United 3-0 Accrington Stanley
Rotherham are in fine form of late and have seemingly shaken off any wobbles that they may have had after the previous defeat to Accrington.
Expect the Millers to avenge December's loss with a comfortable and eye-catching performance at the New York Stadium this weekend.
Top tip
Amos Murphy
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 Rotherham United win with a probability of 66.78%. A draw had a probability of 19.8% and a win for Accrington Stanley had a probability of 13.44%.
The most likely scoreline for a Rotherham United win was 2-0 with a probability of 12.15%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-0 (11.76%) and 2-1 (9.72%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (9.41%), while for an Accrington Stanley win it was 0-1 (4.55%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with an 11.8% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Rotherham United would win this match.
