Birmingham City kick off the latest round of Sky Bet Championship fixtures as they meet Middlesbrough at St Andrews in Friday Night Football.
A win for Birmingham will propel them temporarily at least to eleventh whilst Middlesbrough can move away from the drop with all three points.
Team news
Embed from Getty ImagesBirmingham could have defender, Marc Roberts available after he recovered from a hamstring injury that kept him out in midweek.
Jacques Maghoma was also absent with a calf injury but is too available for this clash, whereas former Middlesbrough midfielder – Josh McEachran is doubtful as he continues to build up his match fitness.
Middlesbrough will be without George Friend as he battles a thigh injury which has kept him sidelined for over the past month.
Jonny Howson will be assessed after making his return from hernia surgery on Tuesday night in a 1-1 home draw with Preston.
Rudy Gestede is back in training after recovering from a hamstring injury suffered last month on international duty with Benin and could feature here.
Hayden Coulson is also ruled out as he continues his recovery from an operation on a ruptured tendon.
Form
Birmingham enter this match with four defeats from their last six matches and have lost two of their last three outings by single goal margins.
Middlesbrough are unbeaten in five of their last seven matches but remain without an away win after drawing and losing apiece from four away trips.
Stat Attack
- Birmingham are winless in their last ten meetings with Middlesbrough (D4, L6).
- Middlesbrough’s four consecutive wins in their last four meetings with Birmingham is their best ever run against the Brummies.
- Britt Assombalonga scored in both meetings last season against Birmingham.
- Lukas Jutkiewicz has scored in three of Birmingham’s four home league games so far this season, with all three goals coming after half-time.
- Out of Middlesbrough’s five away goals this season, only Assombalonga has scored more than once with two of his three league goals coming on the road.
Prediction
Neither team is currently in the finest of form but despite their inconsistencies, Middlesbrough are better in terms of producing goals to squeeze out the points and can take heart from their performance in midweek.
Birmingham however have been unlucky to lose recent games so I can see a tough cagey encounter here, with Boro just edging it given their superior record over the Brummies.
Prediction: Birmingham City 1-2 Middlesbrough
Result: Birmingham City 2-1 Middlesbrough
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