Birmingham City have slowly but steadily dropped down the Championship table to a mid-table 12th place following a sequence of five league matches without a win ahead of this west verses east midlands derby at St. Andrews this Saturday afternoon.
Given the high number of draws that Birmingham City have been involved in so far in this season’s Championship, it’s perhaps no surprise to learn that three of Birmingham’s last five matches ended in stalemates against Brentford 0-0, Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 and Swansea City 3-3, as well as defeats to high-flying Middlesbrough and Norwich City.
However, after having escaped relegation on the final day of the Championship season twice on the trot, the majority of Birmingham fans would still be content with a more stable mid-table finish. That said, Birmingham still possess a solid home record that has seen The Blues lose just twice all season at St Andrews, and this record includes no fewer than 7 draws.
Birmingham were unlucky not to grab all three points against Swansea and this will spur them on as they prepare for the visit of Nottingham Forest. The hosts also received a massive boost ahead of this clash with leading goalscorer Che Adams (15 goals) staying put despite interest from Fulham and Burnley on transfer deadline day, and he’s expected to start up front again with strike partner Jutkiewicz (10 goals).
There have been 3 draws in the last 7 meetings between these two clubs.
Onto Nottingham Forest, and they prevented recent back-to-back defeats to Reading and Bristol City from turning into something more sinister when they recorded a convincing 3-1 home win over Championship strugglers, Wigan Athletic at the City Ground last weekend.
This win has thrust Nottingham Forest up into 9th place and four points adrift of the play-off pack but face a stubborn Birmingham City outfit at St Andrews this Saturday as Martin O’Neill’s side look to close in on the top six.
However, just two wins from their last nine matches still raises question marks over Nottingham Forest’s inconsistencies, especially away from home where they’ve gone five matches without a win on the road.
Interestingly, this winless sequence on the road also includes three draws at Aston Villa, Derby County and Norwich City, as well as losses at Millwall and Reading. In addition, The Tricky Trees have drawn no fewer than 8 matches on their travels to date.
Forest also possess some dangerous attacking personnel in the shape of Grabban (14 goals), Lolley (7 goals) and Cash (6 goals), so they need to be respected here.
However, with neither side in particularly sparkling form right now, there’s a more than reasonable chance that this clash will end up a draw.