Play-off chasers Derby County and Birmingham City will face-off at Pride Park on Saturday (12:30 GMT) in hopes of strengthening their promotion bids.
The Rams are just three points adrift of current sixth placed Southampton, albeit their goal difference will likely mean they won't be able to sneak into the spot this weekend even if results elsewhere do go their way.
While Birmingham have some work to do with seven points to make up and could find themselves out of contention soon if they can't find some much needed victories, especially on the road.
Derby are winless in their last four league games against Birmingham (D2 L2), last having a longer run without beating them between 1996 and 2009 (7 games – D3 L4).
Birmingham and Derby drew in this season's reverse fixture (1-1 on Boxing Day 2025), despite the Blues having their highest possession average (73.7%) and second-most shots (25) in a Championship match this season.
Derby have won their last three home games in the Championship, while they last won four in a row in the competition in January-February 2021 under Wayne Rooney (4).
Only Sheffield Wednesday (13) have scored fewer goals in Championship away games than Birmingham (15) this season. Indeed, the Blues have lost and failed to score in their most recent two (0-3 v Millwall and 0-1 v Charlton).
Derby have the most Championship wins in games with fewer than 40% possession this season (12), including doing so in their most recent league outing (1-0 v Portsmouth with 32.5% possession).
