Birmingham City were handed a second 3-0 defeat away from home on the trot last Sunday when they were soundly beaten by in-form Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium, and a familiar pattern is starting to form where Birmingham are concerned.
As mentioned already in previous previews, Birmingham City lost some key personnel during the summer transfer window, which has resulted in the overall loss of 32 goals and 20 assists from last season’s campaign, and this became very evident against Swansea on Sunday.
Birmingham had very little to offer up front and spent the majority of the match in their own half, and without the pace of Che Adams as an outlet, this pattern looks likely to continue for The Blues, at least away from home.
However, it’s a different story at St Andrews as Birmingham are unbeaten in their last 6 matches on home turf in the Championship, a sequence that includes wins against Leeds United and Barnsley. The hosts have also drawn 4 of these last 6 so the draw is also a possibility here.
Birmingham do hold a good record at home against Stoke City though, as The Blues are unbeaten in the last 10 meetings at St Andrews.
Onto Stoke City then, and The Potters have marched on towards the 3rd round of the League Cup after their midweek win away at Leeds United (on penalties), to go into the hat for the next round.
A 1st round 1-0 win away at fellow Championship outfit, Wigan Athletic, started the ball rolling for Stoke City in this competition, but sadly, this will be scant consolation for Stoke City fans as their team currently sit bottom of the Championship league table.
We’re now 5 matches into this new Championship season and Stoke City have lost 4 of these; defeats to QPR, Charlton Athletic, Preston North End and last Saturday’s heavy 3-0 defeat at home to Leeds United have compounded Stoke’s early season misery.
Another defeat on Saturday at St Andrews against Birmingham City would surely see the axe fall on manager, Nathan Jones’s head as his side have managed just 2 league wins out of their last 23 matches in the second tier.
12 of these last 23 matches have resulted in draws though, so this should be taken into consideration for this clash.
Birmingham’s record at St Andrews is pretty reliable though and they’ve held the upper hand over Stoke on home turf for some time. The Blues could therefore edge the points here.