The first Sky Bet Championship weekend after the international break concludes on Sunday afternoon when the one remaining match takes place at St Andrews as Birmingham City host West Bromwich Albion in a feisty Midlands battle.
Birmingham are just playing out time on the season from here on in but West Brom still harbour hopes of making the play-offs although they are probably going to need to win at least seven of their last eight matches so they could do with winning here. Unfortunately this one isn’t on TV in the UK.
Birmingham City
The Blues have had an up and down season. It began very strongly but they faded fast through the middle of it and haven’t really been able to find their top form again. Clearly there are ongoing struggles at the club. The ground is only half full because of issues with safety and I would imagine it is quite hard for their players to motivate themselves when you consider there has never been a semblance of danger of them being relegated.
Goals have been an issue for Birmingham in recent times. They only scored three goals in six matches heading into the international break so I think it is fair to say that came at a very good time for them. They weren’t massively impacted by injuries either which is a concern. They have kept two clean sheets in their last three outings though so there are signs that they might be finding something defensively, although with nothing to play for you’d have thought they would want to be thriving at the other end.
West Bromwich Albion
This has been a hugely unacceptable season for West Bromwich Albion and while they could still mathematically make the play-offs I don’t see it happening and that will be extremely disappointing. They would have had expectations of automatic promotion this term so to miss out on the top six altogether will highlight just how bad the campaign has been. To be fair to them and to Steve Bruce, there are signs the ship is turning but not quickly enough to achieve their aims.
The Baggies are paying the price for a terrible appointment of Valerien Ismael and sacking him too late in January for Bruce to be able to come in and make a difference. They are unbeaten in four though which includes a win over Fulham in that time so they have started to find some form. Whether that is because the pressure is off or they have found something on the training ground only they will know though.
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Team News
Lee Bowyer has confirmed that the only player missing from his squad in training this week was George Friend although this contest is likely to come too soon for Troy Deeney. Lyle Taylor and Onel Hernandez are expected to be good to go though.
Steve Bruce confirmed that he will be without strikers Ken Zohore and Daryl Dike for this match while Matty Phillips and Kean Bryan are also missing. The likes of Callum Robinson, Jayson Molumby and Semi Ajayi came back from international duty unscathed and should feature.
Betting
It might be no bad thing that this match isn’t on TV because there is every chance it could be an awful watch between two direct and not very entertaining sides. To be fair to West Bromwich Albion though they are making an effort to change their style and they will have to if they are to get out of the division next season. There is a lot more possession based intent about them now that Steve Bruce has taken the reins and recent results would suggest they are clearly better for it.
Birmingham have only won two of their last nine home matches, one against a Barnsley side who were slumped at the time and the other against Luton who they seem to have an Indian sign over at the minute. In that run though they have failed to beat Peterborough United and Hull City and when they have come up against the better sides, Luton aside, they haven’t have much of an answer. I’m still not convinced West Brom are as good as they would be expected to be but they should have enough in them to beat a pretty ordinary Birmingham side who have little to play for.
Tips
Back West Brom to beat Birmingham for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Coral
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