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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 97 46 31 4 11 48
2
Ipswich Town 96 46 28 12 6 35
3
Leeds United 90 46 27 9 10 38
4
Southampton 87 46 26 9 11 24
5
West Bromwich 75 46 21 12 13 23
6
Norwich City 73 46 21 10 15 15
7
Hull City 70 46 19 13 14 8
8
Middlesbrough 69 46 20 9 17 9
9
Coventry City 64 46 17 13 16 11
10
Preston North End 63 46 18 9 19 -11
11
Bristol City 62 46 17 11 18 2
12
Cardiff City 62 46 19 5 22 -17
13
Millwall 59 46 16 11 19 -10
14
Swansea City 57 46 15 12 19 -6
15
Watford 56 46 13 17 16 0
16
Sunderland 56 46 16 8 22 -2
17
Stoke City 56 46 15 11 20 -11
18
QPR 56 46 15 11 20 -11
19
Blackburn Rovers 53 46 14 11 21 -14
20
Sheffield Wednesday 53 46 15 8 23 -24
21
Plymouth Argyle 51 46 13 12 21 -11
22
Birmingham City 50 46 13 11 22 -15
23
Huddersfield 45 46 9 18 19 -29
24
Rotherham 27 46 5 12 29 -52

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