Rotherham vs Birmingham Prediction: Blues can secure crucial success

Rotherham United's penultimate home match in the Championship before they return to League 1 has been given some extra interest by the surprise return to the AESSEAL New York Stadium of former manager Steve Evans. The game was already huge for visitors Birmingham City who, unlike Rotherham, can still save themselves from relegation but are only one point above the bottom three.

Evans' return after quitting his post at third-tier Stevenage has shaken things up but Birmingham will have few excuses if they don't see off the last-placed Millers after their tremendous 3-0 win over Coventry in their last match. Read on for my Rotherham vs Birmingham prediction, as well as all the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Rotherham could make changes depending on what new manager Evans wants to see in the three remaining games of this season.

Loan players Andy Rinomhota, Charlie Wyke and Arvin Appiah could potentially be overlooked if Evans prefers to assess the players contracted to the club, while Sam Clucas went off against Swansea with an injury.

Birmingham could field an unchanged side from their big win over Coventry but Juninho Bacuna, Siriki Dembele and Jordan James are in contention to play if Gary Rowett decides to make changes.

Match Odds

Birmingham are favourites to win on the road and are priced at 8/15 to win the match, with Rotherham available at 9/2 and the draw on offer at 11/4.

Over 2.5 goals in the game is priced at 5/6 with under 2.5 at the same price and it's 10/11 that both teams score in the game.

Birmingham's Jay Stansfield is the 4/1 favourite to score the first goal of the contest.

Birmingham to win to nil @ 6/4

Relegated Rotherham have begun their preparations for next season by replacing Leam Richardson with the returning Evans, who becomes their third manager of the season after Matt Taylor began the unsuccessful campaign in charge.

The Millers have lost 13 of their last 15 games and have been beaten in six of their last eight home matches, although all four of their league victories have come at the AESSEAL New York Stadium.

Rotherham have failed to even score while losing seven of their last nine league matches and another defeat to nil looks likely.

Evans' arrival may provide some kind of motivational spark but he is limited to working with a squad who have fallen well short of the required standard this season and are adrift at the bottom, 21 points behind 23rd-placed Sheffield Wednesday.

Birmingham failed to beat Rotherham in the teams' first meeting, a goalless draw at St Andrew's in early December, and they have lost eight of their last 11 games.

However, there have been signs of improvement from Rowett's side, who have won to nil against Preston and Coventry in their last four games and they will be kicking themselves if they can't do the same against the Millers.

Scorecast - Birmingham to win 2-0 and Jay Stansfield first scorer @ 28/1

Birmingham should have the quality and the desire to win this relatively comfortably but they are not the most prolific side and a solid 2-0 win could be the basis for a Scorecast bet on the game.

The most likely candidate to open the scoring is Blues striker Stansfield, who has scored in three of their last four games, notching in both the wins over Preston and Coventry and the respectable 2-1 loss to title contenders Leicester, when Birmingham were sunk by an 87th-minute goal.

Stansfield has managed 12 league goals this season while on loan from Premier League Fulham, having also impressed for Exeter in League 1 last term.

With another vital game against Huddersfield coming up next, Birmingham will want to get the job done at Rotherham with the minimum of fuss and a 2-0 win looks within their capabilities.

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