Match Preview – Birmingham City v Bristol City

Birmingham City v Bristol City

Birmingham City and Bristol City will face one another this Saturday in a game which both teams will be wanting 3 points for different reason’s. The Blues will want to consolidate and virtually assure themselves a play-off place with 3 points, at the same time keeping up their good recent form with 3 wins and a draw in their last 4 games with 3 of those games  away from home they will be looking to give the home fans some cheer with a few goals having scored 3 in each of those 4 games and with only one more home game remaining of the regular season manager Chris Hughton will be wanting the team to make the most  of the opportunity to confirm a play off place if other results go for them at same time also finally putting one over a team in the bottom area after coming unstuck against others in the bottom regions of the Championship in the last month. They are certainly going to find things far from easy against a revitalised Robins team in recent weeks, having won 2 and drawn 2 of their last 4 games which as seen them climb out of the bottom 3 and put a bit of breathing space between them and their other rivals at the bottom and wont want to throw all that good work away with a defeat. Manager Derek McInnes knows that only their best will do and that his players are going to need to perform all round the pitch in their pursuit to at least take a point away from St Andrews with them.

St Andrews

Birmingham City manager Chris Hughton will have a slight selection dilemma with big midfielder Guirane N’Daw ruled out after limping off in the 3-3 draw at west ham on Monday and long term absentees Jonathan Spector, Stephen Carr still sidelined but will have Pablo Ibanez available after recovering from injury.But the big question will be who will replace N’Daw in the middle Morgaro Gomis would be the obvious choice but doesn’t seem in Hughton’s thought’s  at the moment.

 Chris Hughton is also expecting a difficult game saying

“We face a difficult test against a Bristol City side that have shown form, character and spirit in recent games, particularly the way they came from behind to beat Coventry. They have found some consistency in the last two games and they’ll be looking to take that into today’s match. At this stage of the season you have to earn the right to win any game, no matter who the opposition are.”

Bristol City   have no new injuries to report and looks likely to stick with Dean Gerken in goal who remains unbeaten since coming into the side at the end of March after replacing David James after his calamitous own goal against Watford .Derek McIness will have to find a replacement however for  Brett Pitman who starts a 3 game suspension after being sent off in the 3-1 victory v Coventry where former Blues loan signing Chris wood scored for the 2nd successive game and will be looking to put one over his former playing partners.

 Derek McIness said

“We know it’s a tough task and the support will be right behind them but, similar our recent matches, it’s a great game to be involved in.

“Nothing short of being at our best will get the job done for us. We need to build on the positives of the last couple of games.”

Stats Head to Head : @ Birmingham 

Birmingham won 15 … Bristol  won 4 … Drawn 8

Possible team:

Birmingham City : Myhill, Murphy, Ramage, Davies, Caldwell, Burke, Fahey, Gomis, Mutch, Zigic, King.

Bristol City : Gerken, Foster, Fontaine, Amougou, McGivern, Kilkenny, Skuse, Adomah, Pearson, Stead, Wood

Referee : Keith Stroud

Prediction : Birmingham City 4 .. Bristol City 2

By Blues Brother (Member of  birminghamcityforum.co.uk )