Rotherham United’s relegation fate was sealed in last weekend’s 2-1 defeat away at West Brom despite The Millers taking a 1-0 lead at The Hawthorns, in what has been a familiar story for Paul Warne’s side in this season’s Championship campaign.
Rotherham United haven’t played poorly in the majority of their matches this season but have been unable to hang onto leads and have conceded way too many goals this term - indeed, Rotherham have conceded a total of 81 goals to date this season, which is the most goals conceded this season.
Six defeats out of their last eight matches played provides a snapshot of how things have gone for Rotherham this season as The Millers have been sunk by Norwich City, Derby County, Aston Villa, Swansea City, Birmingham City and West Brom in recent weeks which finally sealed their fate.
Home form has also dipped in alarming fashion for Rotherham United as they started the season having lost just twice in their first 13 matches of the season at their AESSEAL New York Stadium, but since then, the Millers have lost five of their subsequent nine matches, winning just twice during this period.
Middlesbrough know that nothing less than a win will do against Rotherham United this Sunday and hope that Derby County fail to beat West Brom as Tony Pulis’s side look to grab the last remaining play-off place from under Derby’s noses.
Following a dismal run of seven league matches without a win in the Championship which saw Boro lose six of these with defeats to Brentford, Preston North End, Aston Villa, Norwich City, Bristol City and Swansea City, it looked like Middlesbrough had done their dash, but they’ve bounced back in style since.
Four wins from their last five matches overall has helped lift Middlesbrough back into play-off contention with victories against Bolton Wanderers, Hull City, Stoke City and Reading and they now trail Derby County by just one point heading into the final day of the season.
However, a point won’t be any use for Middlesbrough as Derby possess a superior goal difference of +6, so Boro have to take all three points in this clash, but having registered just 2 wins from their last 7 away matches, it’ll need an improved effort from Tony Mowbray’s side here.
A Middlesbrough win looks on the cards here.