Middlesbrough will be hoping their positive momentum can be carried over from before the international break, and Carrick's men should be confident of recording a sixth straight win in all competitions.
Armed with a new manager and fresh ideas, Birmingham's performance at the Riverside Stadium will be under intense scrutiny, and we believe that Rooney will earn a respectable point from his first match in charge.
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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 54.34%. A draw had a probability of 23.5% and a win for Birmingham City had a probability of 22.13%.
The most likely scoreline for a Middlesbrough win was 1-0 with a probability of 10.84%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.79%) and 2-0 (9.51%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.16%), while for a Birmingham City win it was 0-1 (6.37%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with a 10.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for Middlesbrough in this match.
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