Rotherham United make the short trip to Hillsborough to face Sheffield Wednesday with the opportunity to further strengthen their position at the top of the League One standings.
Meanwhile, the Owls head into their meeting with the leaders still sitting outside of the playoffs despite a run of four successive wins.
Match preview
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While some of the chasing pack have understandably pointed to games in hand in recent weeks, the end result is that they have not been able to keep pace or replicate the efforts of Rotherham.
At the turn of the year, the Millers lost twice in three matches, but five successive wins, all with clean sheets, have taken them nine points clear of third position.
Paul Warne most certainly will not be getting carried away at this stage, although it is difficult not to reach the conclusion that they have excelled during the pivotal period of the season.
Second-half goals were required to get the better of Accrington Stanley and AFC Wimbledon, a show of character in both instances when their free-scoring attack was below par.
Although Rotherham travel to their next opponents having lost three of 15 away games this season, just five goals have been conceded during those contests.
At a time when Rotherham have won five fixtures in a row, Wednesday have posted four wins in succession, all with clean sheets like their upcoming opponents.
The Owls have failed to score more than twice during that quartet of games, but Darren Moore will be delighted that his team are finally turning more draws into victories.
Their most notable result of the season was achieved on Tuesday night as Barry Bannan's second-half penalty proved enough to end Wigan Athletic's lengthy unbeaten streak at the third tier.
That result also prevented the Latics from pulling away in second spot, and there is now real belief that the faltering North-West outfit can be hauled in by one of the chasing pack, despite all of them having played more games.
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Team News
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Barring any late fitness issues, Moore will consider naming the same Sheffield Wednesday XI which started against Wigan.
However, Moore noted after that game that Nathaniel Mendez-Laing had only been dropped to manage his game time, leaving the attacker as a potential replacement for Florian Kamberi in the front two.
Having netted the decisive goal at AFC Wimbledon, Joshua Kayode is in line to replace the injured Will Grigg in the Rotherham attack.
Richard Wood will return to the back three after suspension, taking the place of Joe Mattock, with the rest of the team expected to stay the same.
Sheffield Wednesday possible starting lineup:
Peacock-Farrell; Storey, Hutchinson, Palmer; Hunt, Byers, Luongo, Bannan, Johnson; Mendez-Laing, Paterson
Rotherham United possible starting lineup:
Vickers; Harding, Wood, Ihiekwe; Ogbene, Lindsay, Barlaser, Wiles, Ferguson; Kayode, Smith
We say: Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Rotherham United
A local derby between two in-form sides means that this game could be a classic. Many will favour the visitors to edge this contest, but we feel that Sheffield Wednesday will be able to back up their win over Wigan and claim a share of the spoils.
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 Wednesday win with a probability of 37.25%. A win for Rotherham United had a probability of 34.42% and a draw had a probability of 28.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sheffield Wednesday win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.79%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.82%) and 2-0 (6.96%). The likeliest Rotherham United win was 0-1 (11.22%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.24%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 6.3% likelihood.
