Bristol City v Birmingham City - Match Preview
Bristol City’s impressive seven-match winning streak in the Championship came to an abrupt end on Saturday when they were handed a 3-2 defeat away at league leaders, Norwich City, but The Robins return to Ashton Gate on Tuesday night where they’ll be keen to return to winning ways.
Overall form for the hosts has been impressive as Bristol City have suffered just the one defeat in their last 14 matches home and away in the second tier, and they possess an overall home record that has seen them lose just four matches this season.
In addition, Bristol City have won their last four matches at home on the trot with victories chalked up against Rotherham United, Bolton Wanderers, Swansea City and QPR, although three of these four wins were against teams situated in the bottom half of the division.
Bristol City are expected to face stiffer competition in the shape of 8th placed Birmingham City who have scored goals on a regular basis away from home this season.
Midfielder O’Dowda (4 goals) along with forward trio Diedhiou (9 goals), Weimann (6 goals) and Paterson (4 goals) look to be the host’s best chances of scoring here, while at the back, 9 of Bristol City’s 16 home matches have seen both teams score.
Onto Birmingham City and the visitors grabbed a late equaliser on Saturday afternoon to earn a 2-2 draw at St Andrews against Blackburn Rovers, but they face another tough challenge in the shape of Bristol City at Ashton Gate on Tuesday night.
Birmingham remain in 8th place following that point on Saturday but they still trail their hosts by six points as the visitors have been unable to string a few wins together in recent weeks, although they come into this clash having lost just once in their last five matches which was a surprising 1-0 loss at home to relegation candidates, Bolton Wanderers.
A sequence of five matches without a win from the end of December through to the end of January have meant that the play-off pack remain two wins away from The Blues, and given the form of 6th placed Bristol City and the teams above them, it looks unlikely that Birmingham will have enough to break into the top six.
Nevertheless, Birmingham still carry serious goal threats in the shape of forwards Adams (21 goals) and Jutkiewicz (10 goals) up front, and this season has seen a much more positive Birmingham outfit under manager Garry Monk as the visitors are the 5th highest goalscorers away from home in the division.
The only thing is, Birmingham also tend to concede on a regular basis on the road too, and this is underlined by the fact that 10 of their 16 away matches have also seen both teams score.
Bristol City have impressed at home this season while Birmingham also carry a decent goal threat - both teams look in good shape to get on the scoresheet here.