Birmingham City meet Aston Villa at St Andrews in a huge Second City Derby clash, which could be decisive in deciding who gets a Sky Bet Championship play-off spot come May.
Birmingham could close the gap to sixth-placed Derby down to two points with a win here, whereas Villa will leapfrog their Midlands rivals and move four points off the play-offs.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesBirmingham will be without defender, Maxime Colin who is sidelined with a hamstring injury after limping off in last weekend’s loss at Hull.
Gary Gardner is meanwhile ineligble to face his parent club, having joined on loan from Villa last summer.
Villa themselves have a defender unavailable as Tommy Elphick is ruled out with a foot injury, having ripped a tendon during their 4-0 thrashing of Derby last weekend.
John McGinn is however available for the Villains after returning from suspension.
Form
Birmingham City enter this on a run of two defeats in their last seven and taken four points from last three home games.
Aston Villa put a winless February of three draws and two defeats behind them with victory last time out over Derby.
The Villains however are winless in their last five away games, taking just three points from three draws.
Stat Attack
- Birmingham are winless in their last seven against Aston Villa (D3, L4).
- All three draws during that run came at St Andrews, with two of those games finishing 1-1.
- Villa have six goal by six different goal scorers from last two meetings.
Prediction
With both sides entering this off the back of inconsistent form, I am expecting a tough battle.
A part of me can see a draw here but I think if Birmingham turn up and are clinical, they will nick this.
Prediction: Birmingham City 2-1 Aston Villa
Result: Birmingham City 0-1 Aston Villa
Leave a Reply