Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion square off on Friday evening with both clubs having the opportunity to strengthen their promotion bid.

Each of the West Midlands outfits have moved themselves into the top half of the Championship table in recent weeks, collecting 15 and 16 points from their 10 matches thus far.

Match preview

Over the past few months, John Eustace has had to encounter the uncertainty that is associated with club takeovers and speculation regarding potential interest from Rangers.

However, the local-born Birmingham boss is committed to the cause at St Andrew's, even though a five-game winless streak has undone their early results in the second tier during 2023-24.

Losing at Norwich City on Saturday represented a third defeat in four match, but Blues responded with an emphatic 4-1 triumph over Huddersfield Town on Tuesday night.

Prior to that game, Birmingham had not scored four times in a Championship fixture since the beginning of February, so Eustace will hope that his attackers have turned the corner in that respect.

The win also extended Birmingham's unbeaten home record in the league this season to five games, conceding just three goals in the process.

At a time when Birmingham have seen matters off the pitch resolved, West Brom find themselves at the opposite end of the spectrum, hoping that a new owner is found as soon as possible.

Nevertheless, despite the uncertainty, Carlos Corberan has steadied the ship and seen his team catapult themselves into promotion contention with a five-match unbeaten run.

After three draws in succession, the Baggies have recorded victories over Preston North End and Sheffield Wednesday, the former against one of the in-form teams coming by a 4-0 scoreline.

West Brom also have four clean sheets in five outings and have lost just twice in 10 games, while just five goals have been shipped in their five away fixtures in the Championship.

Although Leicester City and Ipswich Town are threatening to run away with the automatic promotion spots, there is scope for teams such as West Brom to cement themselves in the playoff race with a prolonged run of results coming the coming weeks.

Team News

Eustace acknowledged at the start of the week that he expects to be working with the same Birmingham squad for the Huddersfield and West Brom matches, with his injured players on the sidelines until after the international break.

That could see the same starting lineup selected for this contest, with Eustace having the luxury of resting players during the final 15 minutes against the Terriers.

Using Siriki Dembele down the centre of the attack paid off and he can expect to retain his place, as can Juninho Bacuna who was preferred on the flank to Oliver Burke.

Meanwhile, West Brom will be without Brighton & Hove Albion Jeremy Sarmiento for around a month with a muscle injury sustained at the weekend.

Changes are expected to be few and far between for this contest, Conor Townsend most likely to return to the team at left wing-back ahead of Matt Phillips.

Nathaniel Chalobah and Grady Diangana are options in midfield and a creative role should Corberan opt to introduce fresh legs into a team that is playing a third game in less than a week.

Birmingham City possible starting lineup:
Ruddy; Drameh, Sanderson, Long, Longelo; Sunjic, Bielik; Miyoshi, Stansfield, Bacuna; Dembele

West Bromwich Albion possible starting lineup:
Palmer; Kipre, Bartley, Pieters; Furlong, Yokuslu, Mowatt, Phillips; Thomas-Asante, Swift; Wallace

We say: Birmingham City 1-1 West Bromwich Albion

Although Birmingham have been far more inconsistent than West Brom of late, the manner of their victory on Tuesday even things up. With that in mind, we can only predict a competitive draw between two sides who back themselves to challenge for the playoffs in the long term.


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