Bristol City play host to Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday afternoon looking to end a six-match winless streak in the Championship.
Meanwhile, the Owls have also gone three games without success, leaving the club just eight points above the relegation zone.
Match preview
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At one stage this season, it appeared that Bristol City would launch a bid for an automatic promotion spot as they suffered just two defeats by November 23.
However, Lee Johnson and his players would now be delighted with sixth place after losing their way since the beginning of 2020, leaving the club down in 10th place.
Ahead of last weekend's trip to Blackburn Rovers, Johnson would have viewed back-to-back draws with Millwall and Fulham before the suspension of football as the building blocks for continued improvement.
Despite taking the lead at Ewood Park, the Robins ultimately succumbed to a 3-1 defeat to one of their playoff rivals, creating a two-point gap between themselves and their target.
On the positive side, four of Bristol's eight remaining games are against opposition who they will consider as direct rivals, and they may need to rely on such fixtures if they are to make headway up the standings.
Wednesday also had ambitions to achieve promotion earlier this season, a desire which may still linger with just eight points separating the club and the top six.
That said, they are also having to pay closer attention to the battle behind them as teams begin to find some form at a crucial period of the campaign.
Garry Monk's team are odds-on favourites to end the campaign sitting comfortably in mid-table, something which will realistically materialise if they can emerge victorious from just three of their last eight outings.
However, Monk and his players face four games in succession against teams in the top 10, a run which extends to six when including past encounters with Brentford and Forest.
Although there will be an acknowledgement that Wednesday have one of the tougher schedules in the division, Monk knows that he cannot afford a prolonged period without success if he wants to keep hold of his job in the long term.
Bristol City Championship form: LLLDDL
Sheffield Wednesday Championship form: LDWLLD
Team News
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Wednesday will be without the services of Steven Fletcher after the forward suffered a hamstring injury last weekend.
The absence of the Scot could lead to Connor Wickham, on loan from Crystal Palace, being handed a starting role.
Alessio Da Cruz is also pushing for a spot in the first XI after making an impression against Forest.
Bristol manager Johnson will almost certainly make a number of alterations to his starting lineup.
Jay Dasilva, Kasey Palmer and Nahki Wells may all be handed recalls to the team after their appearances off the bench at Blackburn.
However, midfielder Adam Nagy remains out of the squad due to injury.
Bristol City possible starting lineup:
Bentley; Pereira, Kalas, Baker, Dasilva; Paterson, Smith, Massengo, Eliasson; Palmer; Wells
Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup:
Wildsmith; Lees, Iorfa, Borner; Murphy, Luongo, Bannan, Reach, Cruz; Wickham, Rhodes
We say: Bristol City 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday
While both teams will feel a sense of urgency with regards to getting back on track, we feel that being low in confidence will ultimately lead to a share of a spoils, something which would not really suit either side.
Darren Plant
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 Wednesday win with a probability of 38.52%. A win for Bristol City had a probability of 35.84% and a draw had a probability of 25.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sheffield Wednesday win was 0-1 with a probability of 9.08%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.47%) and 0-2 (6.34%). The likeliest Bristol City win was 1-0 (8.7%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.14%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with an 8.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Sheffield Wednesday would win this match.
