Bowyer will not want to see any complacency creep in as Birmingham seek to consolidate their second-tier status, and Middlesbrough's away form is nothing to write home about.
The visitors are still in a strong position when it comes to the playoff race and have the youthful talent up top primed to make a difference, so we are backing Boro to return to winning ways by the narrowest of margins.
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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 Middlesbrough win with a probability of 47.82%. A draw had a probability of 26.1% and a win for Birmingham City had a probability of 26.06%.
The most likely scoreline for a Middlesbrough win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.13%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.18%) and 0-2 (8.99%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.38%), while for a Birmingham City win it was 1-0 (8.36%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with an 9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Middlesbrough would win this match.
