It looks like a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire for Birmingham City as they prepare to take on Millwall at St Andrews on Wednesday night following a controversial local derby against Aston Villa on Sunday which made the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
As predicted, it was a dour and hard fought local derby which Villa eventually won 1-0, so it’s back to the drawing board for Birmingham City who have now won just one of their last five matches in the Championship.
That win came in a seemingly unlikely 2-1 win against high-flying Bristol City, while Birmingham have managed just one win from their last six at St Andrews, which was a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest.
Birmingham City have still only lost four at home though, and with the visit of Millwall comes a real opportunity of bouncing back with a win here as the visitors have managed just two away wins all season, and sit just above the relegation zone.
The Blues were denied a stonewall penalty against Aston Villa, so the story could have been different, and the likes of Che Adams, Lukas Jutkiewicz and Jaques Maghoma are likely to be afforded more room against Millwall on Wednesday night.
Onto Millwall FC then, and the visitors were handed a fourth defeat on the trot in the Championship following their disappointing 2-1 loss away at Bolton Wanderers on Saturday in what was a real relegation ‘six-pointer’ at the Macron Stadium.
Previous defeats to Preston North End, Hull City and Norwich City have meant that Millwall continue to hover just above the relegation zone but The Lions now hold a slender one point margin ahead of third from bottom club Rotherham United.
As mentioned earlier, Millwall possess a poor away record which has yielded just two wins on the road all season to date, namely 3-2 at Ipswich Town and a 1-0 win at Derby County, but they may feel that Birmingham are vulnerable right now following their local derby defeat to Villa on Sunday.
However, with just two clean sheets away from home all season, Millwall will do well to achieve a shut-out against a Birmingham City side who have generally found the back of the net on a regular basis on home turf throughout this campaign.
Birmingham will be hurting after their derby day loss but can bounce back with a much needed win here.