Rotherham vs Coventry prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-02-17 15:00.
Despite holding a half-time lead, Rotherham didn’t pay too heavy a price for a 2-1 defeat at Reading. They still have a three-point cushion from the bottom three after Wigan only drew with Bristol City, but Millers coach Matt Taylor will be in no mood to take his foot off the gas despite a gruelling schedule, especially after conceding two equalisers in October’s reverse clash with Coventry.
With this being Rotherham’s third match of four within a ten-day span, extra reserves of energy will be needed to avoid more needlessly-dropped points. That goes for the fans too, with the Millers’ faithful seeing just one win in their side’s last six home outings (D2, L3), even with Rotherham managing to draw level at 1-1 at some point in all three of the defeats.
Coventry’s own midweek exploits saw them get a different result from the previous game for a fourth match in succession. But it was for the right reasons, as the Sky Blues followed up a draw with Luton by beating Millwall 1-0 to sneak into the top-half. But now attention turns quickly to halting a four-game run of losses on the road – a run that includes three blanks.
Given that those three blanks came only via a 1-0 scoreline, there is every chance that only minor tweaks are needed to improve Coventry’s away results. Poor starts have definitely been an issue though, with the Sky Blue’s tally of six away league goals conceded inside the first quarter-hour being the league’s third-worst at the end of the midweek round.
Players to watch: Lee Peltier gave Rotherham their short-lived lead at Reading on Tuesday with his first goal in over nine years! But his main task will be to stop the feared Viktor Gyökeres, who netted the midweek winner against Millwall to stay on the tails of current top-gun Chuba Akpom. Gyökeres also scored the final equaliser in the reverse H2H (D 2-2).
Hot stat: Rotherham’s home league matches have averaged 1.64 total first-half goals; less only than QPR’s.