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Birmingham City v Nottingham Forest - Match Preview

Birmingham City v Nottingham Forest - Match Preview

Birmingham City have slowly but steadily dropped down the Championship table to a mid-table 12th place following a sequence of five league matches without a win ahead of this west verses east midlands derby at St. Andrews this Saturday afternoon.

Given the high number of draws that Birmingham City have been involved in so far in this season’s Championship, it’s perhaps no surprise to learn that three of Birmingham’s last five matches ended in stalemates against Brentford 0-0, Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 and Swansea City 3-3, as well as defeats to high-flying Middlesbrough and Norwich City.

However, after having escaped relegation on the final day of the Championship season twice on the trot, the majority of Birmingham fans would still be content with a more stable mid-table finish. That said, Birmingham still possess a solid home record that has seen The Blues lose just twice all season at St Andrews, and this record includes no fewer than 7 draws.

Birmingham were unlucky not to grab all three points against Swansea and this will spur them on as they prepare for the visit of Nottingham Forest. The hosts also received a massive boost ahead of this clash with leading goalscorer Che Adams (15 goals) staying put despite interest from Fulham and Burnley on transfer deadline day, and he’s expected to start up front again with strike partner Jutkiewicz (10 goals).

There have been 3 draws in the last 7 meetings between these two clubs.

Onto Nottingham Forest, and they prevented recent back-to-back defeats to Reading and Bristol City from turning into something more sinister when they recorded a convincing 3-1 home win over Championship strugglers, Wigan Athletic at the City Ground last weekend.

This win has thrust Nottingham Forest up into 9th place and four points adrift of the play-off pack but face a stubborn Birmingham City outfit at St Andrews this Saturday as Martin O’Neill’s side look to close in on the top six.

However, just two wins from their last nine matches still raises question marks over Nottingham Forest’s inconsistencies, especially away from home where they’ve gone five matches without a win on the road.

Interestingly, this winless sequence on the road also includes three draws at Aston Villa, Derby County and Norwich City, as well as losses at Millwall and Reading. In addition, The Tricky Trees have drawn no fewer than 8 matches on their travels to date.

Forest also possess some dangerous attacking personnel in the shape of Grabban (14 goals), Lolley (7 goals) and Cash (6 goals), so they need to be respected here.

However, with neither side in particularly sparkling form right now, there’s a more than reasonable chance that this clash will end up a draw.

Championship Regular Season
OVERALL TABLE PTS GP W D L +/-
1
Leicester City 94 44 30 4 10 47
2
Leeds United 90 44 27 9 8 43
3
Ipswich Town 89 43 26 11 6 32
4
Southampton 84 44 25 9 10 24
5
West Bromwich 72 44 20 12 12 23
6
Norwich City 72 44 21 9 14 16
7
Hull City 69 44 19 12 13 9
8
Coventry City 63 43 17 12 14 13
9
Middlesbrough 63 44 18 9 17 4
10
Preston North End 63 44 18 9 17 -5
11
Cardiff City 62 44 19 5 20 -11
12
Bristol City 59 44 16 11 17 4
13
Sunderland 56 44 16 8 20 1
14
Swansea City 56 44 15 11 18 -5
15
Watford 53 44 12 17 15 1
16
Millwall 53 44 14 11 19 -12
17
Stoke City 50 44 13 11 20 -16
18
QPR 50 44 13 11 20 -16
19
Blackburn Rovers 49 44 13 10 21 -16
20
Plymouth Argyle 48 44 12 12 20 -11
21
Sheffield Wednesday 47 44 13 8 23 -29
22
Birmingham City 46 44 12 10 22 -16
23
Huddersfield 44 44 9 17 18 -27
24
Rotherham 24 44 4 12 28 -53

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