Birmingham City picked up a third win in four matches in the Championship on the weekend when they registered another win on the road, which came in the shape of a 1-0 win at newly promoted Charlton Athletic.
Charlton had previously been unbeaten at The Valley, so for Birmingham to edge the points in south-west London is really something for The Blues who notched a second away win of the season, and follows earlier recent wins against Barnsley 2-0 and Stoke City 2-1, both of which were recorded on home turf at St Andrews.
Birmingham now return to St Andrews for this Saturday afternoon’s clash with high-flying Preston North End, as the hosts look to maintain their unbeaten start at home in this season’s campaign.
The Blues have seen 2 wins and a draw, which have earned them 7 points from their first 3 home matches of the new term while the bigger picture indicates the hosts are now unbeaten in their last 7 matches, and they’re a stubborn unit to shift at St Andrews.
Striker, Jutkiewicz (3 goals) has got amongst the goals early this season while promising teenager, Bellingham (2 goals) has impressed recently.
Onto Preston North End and the visitors maintained their 100% winning record at Deepdale on Saturday when they registered a solid 2-0 win against Brentford, making it now 4 wins on the trot on home turf for The Lilywhites.
Wins against Wigan Athletic 3-0, Stoke City 3-1, Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 and the aforementioned 2-0 victory over Brentford have certainly contributed towards an impressive start at home for Preston, but results away from home have been far less convincing.
The visitors have still yet to record an away win this season, losing twice and drawing once with defeats suffered at Millwall and Swansea City, while picking up a point in a draw with Nottingham Forest, but that’s now 7 matches without a win on the road for Alex Neil’s side as Preston continue to struggle for results on their travels in the Championship.
The bigger picture also shows us that Preston have kept just 2 clean sheets from their last 15 away matches in the second tier, and this could be another important factor in deciding the outcome of Saturday’s visit to St Andrews.
Birmingham City are always hard to beat at St Andrews and they look the more likely to grab the points here against Preston.