Birmingham City will head into their Friday night clash with Middlesbrough looking to avoid a fourth league defeat on the trot in the Championship, with recent back-to-back defeats away from home not helping their cause.
A surprising 1-0 defeat at their fortress, St Andrews, to Preston North End proved to be the catalyst for 3 defeats on the trot in the second tier for Birmingham City who have suffered losses on the road at Derby County 3-2 last Saturday and a narrow 1-0 loss at Wigan in midweek.
HIGHLIGHTS: Wigan 1 Blues 0 🔞 Brought to you by @BoyleSports.Watch the full version 👇#KeepRightOn #BCFC pic.twitter.com/gds2tSGJLB— Birmingham City FC (@BCFC) October 2, 2019
HIGHLIGHTS: Wigan 1 Blues 0 🔞 Brought to you by @BoyleSports.Watch the full version 👇#KeepRightOn #BCFC pic.twitter.com/gds2tSGJLB
However, Birmingham have reason to remain confident ahead of their return to St Andrews for this Friday night showdown with Middlesbrough as the visitors have made a poor start to the Championship and still remain without an away win this term.
Birmingham possess a fairly reasonable looking home record which has seen them lose just 1 of their last 8 matches at St Andrews, with The Blues scoring in 7 of these last 8 home matches too.
Onto Middlesbrough, and in the wake of the departure of former manager, Tony Pulis, former Boro player and club legend, Jonathan Woodgate, promised attacking football at The Riverside Stadium ahead of this new Championship season.
However, Middlesbrough’s identity seems to be extremely muddled so far during Woodgate’s fledgling tenure at the north-east club as his side currently occupy a disappointing 20th place on the Championship ladder and just two league positions above the relegation zone.
Middlesbrough have registered just 1 win out of their last 6 matches overall in the Championship which was a narrow 1-0 home win over fellow strugglers, Reading, and recent results suggest that the attacking brand of football promised by Woodgate may be back-firing on his side.
Draws with Millwall, Bristol City and Preston North End have been further offset by defeats to Cardiff City and Sheffield Wednesday, the latter being a heavy 4-1 defeat at home.
Perhaps most concerning for manager Woodgate though is Middlesbrough’s lack of punch on the road as they’ve earned just 2 points from the last 12 on offer on their travels, thanks to draws at Luton Town and Bristol City, while suffering losses at Blackburn Rovers and Cardiff City.
The bigger picture shows that Middlesbrough have collected just 2 away wins out of their last 10 matches in the Championship which were both recorded last season against relegated clubs, Bolton Wanderers and Rotherham United respectively.
Birmingham are usually tough to beat at home, so the hosts stand a good chance of putting a halt to their recent losing run here.