While the assumption is that Birmingham may click into gear under Rooney at some stage, we cannot ignore Coventry's improvement. Despite the defeat to Ipswich, they were competitive, and the Sky Blues seem likely to continue their resurgence on Friday evening.
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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 Coventry City win with a probability of 55.31%. A draw had a probability of 23.9% and a win for Birmingham City had a probability of 20.83%.
The most likely scoreline for a Coventry City win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.92%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.21%) and 2-1 (9.72%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.34%), while for a Birmingham City win it was 0-1 (6.62%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 10.2% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Coventry City would win this match.