Looking to boost their chances of avoiding an unthinkable relegation, Birmingham City will make the highly-anticipated trip to the AESSEAL New York Stadium to face Rotherham United on Saturday in the Championship.
The already-relegated Millers suffered a narrow defeat at Swansea City last time out, whilst Blues recorded a much-needed success over Midlands counterparts Coventry City.
Match preview
© Reuters
Following a luckless spell in charge of the League One-bound club since December, Leam Richardson was relieved of his duties at bottom side Rotherham earlier this week, with a familiar face returning to the New York Stadium as they hope to build a brighter future in the third tier.
After agreeing a suitable compensation fee with Stevenage, the Millers have been able to steal the services of Steve Evans from the Lamex Stadium, with the 61-year-old now back in South Yorkshire for his second spell at Rotherham after leaving for Leeds United in September 2015.
The long-term focus of Evans will be on ensuring that the Millers secure an immediate return to the Championship next season, but Saturday's hosts still have three second-tier matches before the campaign's end, playing Birmingham this weekend before clashing with Bristol City and Cardiff City.
Rotherham's form leading up the sacking of former Wigan Athletic boss Richardson was extremely poor, with the Millers scoring just twice and collecting only three points from their last 10 Championship matches, leaving them 21 points adrift at the bottom of the second-tier standings.
Any Birmingham supporters worried that Rotherham could be in line for a new manager bounce can be reassured by their record when Richardson took the reins in Yorkshire during the middle of December, with the Millers losing three straight matches, conceding seven goals in the process.
© Reuters
Following a real low moment as they lost at home to Erol Bulut's Cardiff on April 13, Birmingham produced a marvellous performance in front of a sold-out crowd at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park just three days later to secure a handsome three-goal success over Coventry City last time out.
Perhaps with one eye on their FA Cup semi-final versus Manchester United this weekend, the Sky Blues were well off the boil when they visited the Second City last Saturday and Blues took full advantage, with an own goal from Bobby Thomas prior to strikes from Ivan Sunjic and Jay Stansfield sealing maximum points.
The victory over Coventry - coupled with both Huddersfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday dropping points - allowed Birmingham to move out of the relegation zone and into 21st position, but Blues are just a single point ahead of the 22nd-placed Terriers with three matches left to play.
With a trip to the John Smith's Stadium on the agenda next weekend before a campaign-closing match versus Norwich City, the importance of Saturday's contest at bottom side Rotherham has been highlighted by Bluenoses for close to two months now, with the game having the potential to make or break Birmingham's survival ambitions.
Unusually, three of Blues' last four visits to Rotherham have arrived in the month of April when the Second City club are fighting to preserve their Championship status, with that particular trio of matches yielding seven points, although Birmingham's most-recent fixture in South Yorkshire ended in a 2-0 defeat back in August 2022.
Team News
© Reuters
Rotherham will be without the services of a number of former Birmingham players on Saturday, with both Grant Hall and Tyler Blackett sidelined due to hip and hamstring injuries respectively.
The Millers will also be unable to call upon the services of striker Jordan Hugill and midfielder Christ Tiehi, further limiting Evans's options across the pitch.
Although a new manager is likely to arrive with his own ideas, Evans should stick with a back three of Cameron Humphreys, Lee Peltier and Hakeem Odoffin.
Birmingham could be boosted by the returns of Marc Roberts and Oliver Burke this weekend, with the pair training all week ahead of Saturday's trip to Yorkshire.
On a sourer note, Blues will remain without the experience of Lukas Jutkiewicz, who is continuing to recover from a knee injury sustained in the loss to Watford last month.
Interim manager Gary Rowett has stated that his side have picked up a few knocks over the course of the week, meaning that the likes of Jordan James and Juninho Bacuna could be promoted from the bench as replacements.
Rotherham United possible starting lineup:
Johansson; Revan, Odoffin, Peltier, Humphreys, Bramall; Rathbone, Rinomhota, Clucas, Cafu; Nombe
Birmingham City possible starting lineup:
Ruddy; Laird, Bielik, Sanderson, Buchanan; Paik, Sunjic, Miyoshi, Roberts, Anderson; Stansfield
We say: Rotherham United 0-1 Birmingham City
Despite a change in manager earlier in the week, Rotherham fans will be expecting the worst from Saturday's clash following their woeful campaign so far.
Birmingham's trip to Rotherham is finally here, and we feel that Rowett's Blues are in a good position to collect the three points that supporters have been targeting from this fixture ever since this relegation battle became a reality.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Carter White
