Birmingham City suffered a fifth defeat away from home in the Championship on Saturday afternoon after being handed a 1-0 loss away at Leeds United but nevertheless, Birmingham manager, Pep Clotet, and his players will have been pleased with their efforts as they now look ahead to a home clash against Blackburn Rovers at St. Andrews on Tuesday night.
Tuesday night’s hosts, Birmingham have managed just 2 away wins from their first 7 matches on the road which also includes 5 defeats, but it’s a different story on home turf at St Andrews as The Blues have lost just once in their first 5 matches of this campaign.
Despite recent overall results making for sorry reading for Birmingham who have lost 4 of their last 5 matches overall in the Championship, the hosts have picked up wins at home against Barnsley, Stoke City and Middlesbrough and have lost just 1 of their last 9 matches in the west midlands.
The Blues are also unbeaten in their last 4 meetings at home against Blackburn Rovers, so they’ll be confident they can get something from this clash.
Onto Blackburn Rovers, and the visitors’ winless run in the Championship was extended to 4 matches without success under manager, Tony Mowbray, on the weekend following a 2-2 draw at home with slowly improving Huddersfield Town.
Recent defeats to Luton Town and QPR along with draws against Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield Town mean that the Lancashire club have earned just 2 points from the last possible 12 on offer, while results on the road have produced a mixed return to date.
Blackburn have won 2 and lost 3 of their first 5 away matches of this new Championship season and although they’ve claimed victories at Hull City and Reading, defeats at Fulham, West Brom and QPR have outweighed the positives so far.
Similar to Birmingham’s 3 home wins against teams struggling near the foot of the Championship table, Blackburn’s away wins have been at teams sitting 19th (Hull City) and 20th (Reading) respectively.
This upcoming fixture carries a word of caution though as 5 out of the last 7 meetings between these two sides have ended in stalemate, as well as 3 of the last 4 encounters at St Andrews ending in draws, so this clash may also end in a draw.
Birmingham City not avoiding defeat here but having the draw onside looks the likely outcome here.