A 2-1 win away from home at Championship strugglers Luton Town on Saturday handed Birmingham City back-to-back wins following their FA Cup third round 2-1 win at home against Blackburn Rovers.
Birmingham will now head into this crucial Saturday afternoon clash against Cardiff City at St Andrews looking to secure a third win on the trot as The Blues look to pull away from the relegation zone.
The weekend win over Luton Town ended a dismal run of 6 matches without a win in the Championship of which 5 of the 6 matches ended in defeats to QPR, West Brom, Hull City, Leeds United and Wigan Athletic - the latter being a particularly damaging 3-2 loss at home to the second from bottom outfit in the second tier.
Recent form at home has also been poor as Birmingham have lost their last 4 matches on the trot, conceding a total of 13 goals in the process and having registered just 5 wins out of their 13 matches at St Andrews to date, Pep Clotet’s side will be desperate to set the record straight here.
Cardiff City remained in the relative safety of a mid-table position in the Championship in 12th place following their Welsh derby 0-0 draw with Swansea City which meant that Cardiff have suffered just 1 defeat out of their last 6 matches overall in the second tier.
That defeat though was a heavy 6-1 thrashing at the hands of QPR last time out on their travels, and although The Bluebirds have lost just once at home throughout this season and have picked up a 2-1 win away from home at Sheffield Wednesday, the visitors still possess an ordinary record on the road.
Recent results have produced a mixed bag for Cardiff as they’ve recorded wins at Nottingham Forest and Wednesday but have also fallen to defeats at Brentford and the 6-1 capitulation at QPR.
Overall though, Cardiff have only picked up just 2 wins on their travels throughout this Championship campaign to date within a total of 14 matches, and although they’ve won the last two meetings on the trot against Birmingham City, both of these were achieved at their Cardiff City Stadium.
Switch to previous results at St Andrews though, and Birmingham have held the upper hand as The Blues are unbeaten in the last 4 clashes in the west midlands, so backing the hosts with the double chance option here appeals.