Middlesbrough have a chance to strengthen their Championship promotion prospects when they take on Blackburn Rovers at the Riverside Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Neil Warnock's side have been in good form and are just three points behind sixth-placed Bournemouth, who are not in action this weekend due to FA Cup commitments.
Blackburn will feel that they are also in promotion contention, though they are six points behind Boro after a run of one win in five league outings.
Match preview
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Nobody knows what it takes to escape a division quite like Warnock, who is on course for a record-extending ninth promotion this season.
Boro have won five of their last seven league games since mid-December, a run that has kept them within touching distance of the top six.
The most recent of those victories came away at Nottingham Forest on Wednesday thanks to strikes from Britt Assombalonga and George Saville.
Warnock's men tasted defeat in their last home game, though, as they went down 1-0 to Birmingham City - the first time they had dropped points in five outings at the Riverside.
Incredibly, Middlesbrough have failed to win a home league match in January since a 2-0 victory over Derby County in 2016, going 10 such games without a win since then (D6 L4).
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Blackburn will be hoping to prolong that winless run as they seek consecutive away league wins for the first time since April 2019.
Tony Mowbray's charges were 2-0 winners at Birmingham in their most recent away match, but they were unable to build on that and drew 1-1 with Stoke City at home last time out.
John Buckley cancelled out Nick Powell's opener, but Rovers could not find a late winner despite Stoke having James Chester dismissed.
Blackburn have not been in action since that match on January 16 as their midweek clash against Swansea City was called off due to a waterlogged pitch.
Middlesbrough Championship form: WWLWLW
Middlesbrough form (all competitions): WLWLLW
Blackburn Rovers Championship form: WLDLWD
Blackburn Rovers form (all competitions): LDLWLD
Team News
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Middlesbrough will be without Grant Hall, Ashley Fletcher and Marcus Browne for Sunday's match.
Marvin Johnson was introduced as a second-half substitute against Forest and may get the nod out wide here, likely at the expense of Duncan Watmore.
Assombalonga's strike against former side Forest was his fifth goal in 22 Championship matches this term, and he is set to lead the line for the home team once again.
As for Blackburn, they could be without as many as six players through injury, including the likes of Sam Gallagher and Daniel Ayala.
Rovers may have had eight days' rest between matches, a luxury not afforded to Boro, but one or two changes are possible, with Ben Brereton among those pushing for a recall.
Middlesbrough possible starting lineup:
Bettinelli; Dijksteel, McNair, Fry, Bola; Howson, Saville, Morsy; Tavernier, Assombalonga, Johnson
Blackburn Rovers possible starting lineup:
Kaminski; Nyambe, Lenihan, Branthwaite, Douglas; Travis, Rothwell; Elliott, Dack, Brereton; Armstrong
We say: Middlesbrough 1-1 Blackburn Rovers
Seven of the last 10 league meetings between Middlesbrough and Blackburn have ended as a draw, including the reverse fixture earlier this campaign.
In fact, the last five league encounters between these sides at the Riverside have ended all square, so we can only see this contest ending one way.
Top betting tip
Daniel Lewis
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 37.14%. A win for Middlesbrough had a probability of 34.76% and a draw had a probability of 28.1%.
The most likely scoreline for a Blackburn Rovers win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.53%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (7.86%) and 0-2 (6.87%). The likeliest Middlesbrough win was 1-0 (11.06%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.18%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with an 11.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-1 win for Blackburn Rovers in this match.
