Birmingham City meet West Bromwich Albion at St Andrew’s Stadium in a West Midlands derby in the Sky Bet Championship.
Victory would see Birmingham City climb up to fifth in the table, whilst West Brom will stay fifth with a win unless can win by a seven-goal margin at minimum.
Team News
Birmingham have no fresh injury concerns after their 4-1 midweek win over Huddersfield.
Lee Buchanan (ankle), Keshi Anderson, George Hall, Ethan Laid (all hamstring), Tyler Roberts (calf) and Alfie Chang (ACL) remain absent.
West Brom could be without loanee, Jeremy Sarimento after he missed their win over Sheffield Wednesday with a muscle injury.
Josh Maja (ankle), Daryl Dike (Achilles) and Pipa (fitness) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Birmingham City face West Brom at St Andrew’s Stadium in a 8pm BST kick-off on Friday 6 October, live on Sky Sports in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Birmingham are unbeaten in four of their last five meetings against West Brom (W3, D1, L1).
- West Brom are unbeaten in three of their last five league visits to Birmingham City (W2, D1, L2).
- Birmingham City have kept clean sheets in their last two home games against West Brom (W2).
- Anything less than a win would see Birmingham go six consecutive league games without victory for the first time since a seven-match streak between April-August 2022.
- West Brom have kept just two clean sheets in five away games this season (W1, D3, L1).
Prediction
After hitting a rut of two points in five games, Birmingham certainly seemed back to their clinical best with a ruthless display against Huddersfield, yet that performance has to be built upon if they want to keep pace with their rivals for a potential play-off spot.
Having scraped past Sheffield Wednesday in a game which they arguably should of won if not for their sloppy end product, West Brom certainly will be eager to produce a tidier performance but they do still have strong momentum to use as a platform builder coming into this derby.
Goals therefore are surely on the cards but if Birmingham are once again in top gear and West Brom don’t clean up their end product, I can see the hosts just having the edge here.
Prediction: Birmingham City 2-1 WBA
Result: Birmingham City 3-1 WBA
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