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Sports Mole previews Saturday's League One clash between Rotherham United and Burton Albion, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Rotherham United will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways in the 2024-25 League One season when they play host to Burton Albion at the AESSEAL New York Stadium on Saturday.

The hosts went into the international break in 15th place in the league standings, with five points in as many games, while the visitors are 19th, though they have played one less fixture.

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Match preview

After winning promotion to the Championship in 2021-22, Rotherham United's stay in the second tier of English football lasted just one full season before they finished bottom of the table and were forced back down a division.

While their undoubted intention will be to head straight back up again, their performances so far this term have been a mixed bag, with one win, two draws and two losses posted over the first five games of the season.

The most recent result saw Steve Evans's side play out a 1-1 draw on the road against Charlton Athletic with Liam Kelly scoring the side's only goal, though it was swiftly cancelled out by Chuks Aneke's equaliser 10 minutes later.

While Evans would surely have wanted the three points, the result is a welcome one, given that the side had not scored a goal in their previous eight league matches on the road - though they still have not won an away game in almost 700 days.

At home, however, the Millers have been much better, unbeaten in all competitions after four games in this campaign and six in total dating back to a 1-0 loss to Plymouth Argyle in the Championship in April.

Meanwhile, after spending most of last season working to maintain daylight between themselves and the drop, the early signs suggest that Burton Albion are likely to find themselves in the relegation scrap again this term.

The Brewers kicked off the new season with a 3-2 loss to Lincoln City followed by three consecutive draws to Mansfield Town, Stevenage and Northampton Town, with the latter two ending goalless.

Thus, Burton are currently one of only four sides in the division, along with bottom three Blackpool, Cambridge United and Leyton Orient, who have yet to record their first win in the league.

So far, the only victory that Mark Robinson has earned since being handed the reins back in June was a 3-1 win over Leicester City Under-21s in the EFL Trophy in the middle of last month.

The visitors last faced Rotherham in back in 2022 when they notched up a 2-0 win thanks to goals from former Manchester United defender Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and John Brayford, who is now a part of the coaching staff behind the scenes.

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Team News

Centre-half Sean Raggett and attacker Joseph Hungbo both missed Rotherham's last outing due to injury and are flagged as doubts for this weekend's matchup against the Brewers.

Evans mentioned before the international break that the club are planning to open discussions over a new contract for Hakeem Odoffin, who will likely partner Liam Kelly in the hosts' engine room this weekend.

Robinson revealed in his pre-match press conference that loanee Ronnie Stutter, who joined the club from Premier League giants Chelsea, will be sidelined with a groin injury picked up in training.

Billy Bodin (calf) is expected to be out for four weeks, while Charlie Webster and Julian Larsson have resumed training following their injuries, but will not be risked by the new manager this week.

Rotherham United possible starting lineup:
Phillips; Rafferty, Humphreys, McCart, James; Odoffin, Kelly, Powell; Wilks; Nombe, Clarke-Harris

Burton Albion possible starting lineup:
Crocombe; Vancooten, Sweeney, Armer; Godwin-Malife, Kalinauskas, Chauke, Watt; Billy, Orsi, Whitfield

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We say: Rotherham United 1-0 Burton Albion

After losing to Wycombe and Fleetwood last month, Rotherham showed enough improvement over their last two matches to suggest that they could edge this one, against an opponent who have not found the back of the net in almost 200 minutes of playing time.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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