Burton Albion vs Bristol City. Sky Bet Championship.
Pirelli StadiumAttendance4,575.
Friday 9 March 2018 12:42, UK
Burton have concerns over Damien McCrory and Hope Akpan ahead of their home game with Bristol City.
McCrory was forced off with a knee injury in Tuesday's 2-0 defeat to Brentford, his first start for the Brewers since August. Akpan is struggling with an ankle injury sustained in training last weekend and will be assessed before the Sky Bet Championship clash.
Ben Turner and John Brayford are likely to be absent again, but Martin Samuelsen is expected to have fully recovered from the illness which forced him off during the opening hour against Brentford.
Bristol City must reorganise their defence following their midweek setback at Preston. Centre-half Aden Flint was sent off in the final seconds of that 2-1 defeat and starts a three-game ban.
Left-back Joe Bryan begins a two-match suspension after picking up a 10th yellow card of the season. So City are hoping Nathan Baker recovers from the groin injury which has ruled him out for the last two games, while Jens Hegeler (knee) and Milan Djuric (groin) stepped up their fitness by playing for the under-23s this week.
The last two league meetings between these sides have ended goalless.
The only previous meeting between Burton and Bristol City at the Pirelli Stadium in any competition was in last season's Championship campaign - the Robins won 2-1.
Five of the eight managerial meetings between Lee Johnson and Nigel Clough have ended as draws, with Clough winning two and Johnson winning one of the other three.
Bristol City are winless in nine away matches in all competitions (W0 D3 L6) - they had gone 12 matches unbeaten on the road prior to this run.
Burton have lost 13 home Championship matches this season - the last Championship team to lose more in a season were Rotherham in 2004/05 (14).
Nine of Bristol City's last 10 Championship goals have been scored by either Famara Diedhiou (4) or Bobby Reid (5) - the other was scored by Josh Brownhill.
Bristol City face a real battle to get back into the play-offs now that Middlesbrough are ahead of them and starting to turn the screw under Tony Pulis.
Burton are still in the battle for survival because none of the sides around them can seem to get any wins either. This is a decent opportunity for them to get some points on the board but I think the Robins will have the quality to sneak this one.
David Prutton predicts: 0-1 (5/1 with Sky Bet)
