Blackburn Rovers make the trip to Birmingham City with Tony Mowbray looking for the win which will secure a top-10 finish in the Championship standings.
At a time when Mowbray will be taking charge of his final Rovers game, Lee Bowyer may find himself in a similar situation in the Blues dugout with Birmingham down in 20th position and having gone five matches without success.
Match preview
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There was a feeling at the end of last season that Mowbray should have been departing Ewood Park with things having seemingly gone stale, but the veteran boss proved everyone with that opinion wrong during the opening half of 2021-22 as Blackburn became promotion candidates.
However, after recording just 21 points from as many matches since the turn of the year, Mowbray has made the only decision that he can and revealed that he will be stepping down as manager after five years in charge.
While the 58-year-old has brought stability to Rovers, they have not been able to retain a cutting edge long enough to challenge for the Premier League, and they will go in a different direction in the summer.
In the short term, four defeats have come in seven games, their latest 3-0 setback against Bournemouth last weekend ensuring that they dropped out of contention for the playoffs.
Although their goal difference means that they should be safe when it comes to finishing in 10th position or above, Mowbray will want to end on a high at St Andrew's.
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At a time when Blackburn's issues have been on the pitch, many of Birmingham's have come off it, and there is an instability about Blues which has ensured that Bowyer's position in the dugout has never felt safe.
Given the level of player at his disposal, Bowyer should be guiding Birmingham to a higher finish than 20th, but the circumstances mean that everyone involved is probably satisfied with survival in the second tier.
The West Midlands outfit have shown plenty of fight in their last two games, holding leads against each of Millwall and Cardiff City, but conceding late penalties have led to each game ending in draws.
With just one win from nine games, Bowyer can have few complaints if the much-criticised Blues hierarchy make another change over the coming weeks, but a fresh start may benefit all parties in the long term.
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Team News
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Having earned a spirited point at Cardiff last weekend, Bowyer may be prepared to select the same Birmingham starting lineup for this contest.
However, Jordan James and Jordan Graham are alternatives in midfield, while Scott Hogan may get the nod over Nottingham Forest loanee Lyle Taylor.
Despite wanting to end his Rovers reign on a positive note, Mowbray could feel obliged to look to the club's future with some players out of contract or likely to move elsewhere.
That could see Deyovaisio Zeefuik replace Darragh Lenihan at right-back and Tyrhys Dolan being restored to the attack at the expense of Ben Brereton Diaz.
Daniel Ayala will also hope to be handed a rare 90 minutes in the middle of the backline, potentially replacing Jan Paul van Hecke.
Birmingham City possible starting lineup:
Etheridge; Gordon, Roberts, Friend; Colin, Sunjic, Gardner, Bela; Bacuna; Hogan, Hernandez
Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:
Kaminski; Zeefuik, Ayala, Wharton, Pickering; Travis, Rothwell; Hedges, Buckley, Gallagher; Dolan
We say: Birmingham City 2-1 Blackburn Rovers
While both managers will want to end disappointing seasons on a high, they will also want to give each squad a helping hand for the future. With changes aplenty most likely, we feel that Birmingham may show the extra desire to get all three points on the board in front of their own supporters.
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 42.22%. A win for Birmingham City had a probability of 30.64% and a draw had a probability of 27.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Blackburn Rovers win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.66%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.62%) and 0-2 (7.83%). The likeliest Birmingham City win was 1-0 (9.57%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.84%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with an 8.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Blackburn Rovers would win this match.
