Birmingham’s stubborn 4-match sequence without defeat in the Championship came undone in their midweek 2-0 defeat to QPR which came as something of a surprise, but they have another chance to redeem themselves in this upcoming west midlands derby clash against West Brom.
Birmingham had recently picked up valuable points in draws with Huddersfield Town, Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall (all in 1-1 scorelines) along with a 3-2 win away from home at Reading, but the manner of their midweek defeat to QPR should ensure a positive response from The Blues in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off.
However, although one of the reasons that former manager, Garry Monk, was dismissed at Blues in favour of a more attacking style of football, Birmingham have scored 8 fewer goals at this stage at home compared to last season and sit in 15th place as opposed to 9th at this time last year.
The departure of attacking personnel such as Adams and Jota has had a negative impact in Birmingham’s goal production and 7 of their 10 home matches have resulted in under 2.5 goals as a consequence.
Onto West Brom, and the visitors extended their unbeaten run in the Championship to 11 matches in midweek under manager, Slaven Bilic, with a 1-1 draw away at Wigan Athletic as The Baggies continue to wrestle Leeds United for top spot in the second tier.
Both Leeds United and West Brom sit on 46 points apiece and hold a useful 11 point cushion over the chasing teams such as Fulham and Bristol City, so both teams look well placed to achieve automatic promotion at this stage of the season.
West Brom bring a 5-match unbeaten sequence away from home into this west midlands derby too which includes winning 4 of these last 5 matches on the road at Middlesbrough, Stoke City, Hull City and Preston North End, while also keeping 4 clean sheets during this period as well.
The goals seem to have dried up for the visitors too though in recent times as 9 of West Brom’s 11 away matches have resulted in under 2.5 goals with 5 of their 11 away matches also seeing The Baggies keep clean sheets.
With this being a local derby too, goals may be few and far between.