Birmingham City and Cardiff City will be looking to bounce back from Championship defeats last weekend when they lock horns at St Andrews on Saturday afternoon.
The hosts have won three of their last four league matches on home soil, while the visitors are unbeaten in their last three games on the road, scoring at least twice in the process.
Match preview
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Birmingham City were unable to follow up their 1-0 win at home against Blackpool with another three points, as they suffered a 3-1 defeat away at Millwall last weekend.
After strikes from Murray Wallace and Tom Bradshaw put the hosts two goals to the good at the break, Troy Deeney gave the visitors a lifeline with a thunderbolt in the 56th minute. However, George Evans restored Millwall's two-goal cushion with a 73rd-minute curler just inside the penalty area.
Lee Bowyer's men have now dropped down to 16th in the Championship standings, 10 points above the relegation zone and eight behind the top six.
Birmingham head into Saturday's encounter having accumulated nine points from their last four home games in the second tier, as many as they had claimed in their previous nine league matches at St Andrew's.
The Blues have, however, only picked up one point from their last five league games against Cardiff, and suffered a heavy 4-0 home defeat on the final day of last season.
No Championship side has kept more clean sheets than Birmingham (10) so far this campaign, with half of those clean sheets coming in the last nine matches. Another resilient defensive display will be required against the Bluebirds if they are to claim a positive result this weekend.
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Cardiff City suffered their eighth home defeat in nine league matches when they were beaten 3-2 against Sheffield United last weekend.
Despite the Bluebirds taking the lead in the 32nd minute through Mark Harris, the dismissal of defender Sean Morrison seven minutes after the break proved to be a turning point in the contest, as the visitors went on to score three goals in the space of 14 minutes to come away from Wales with all three points.
Steve Morison's side have now suffered 12 Championship defeats this season – only Peterborough United have lost more – and they remain five points above the relegation zone.
Cardiff's recent record against Birmingham should give them confidence of returning to winning ways on Saturday, as they have won four and drawn one of their last five meetings against them, scoring 15 goals in the process.
The Bluebirds will be looking to win successive away league matches at St Andrew's for the first time since 1927.
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Team News
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Birmingham midfielders Ryan Woods and Gary Gardner are to serve the final part of their respective three and four-match suspensions, so 17-year-old Jordan James will likely get another chance in the first XI alongside Ivan Sunjic and Riley McGree.
The hosts will also be without Matija Sarkic (hamstring), Maxime Colin (Achilles), Tahith Chong (groin) and Adan George (knee) due to injury.
Bowyer is unlikely to make too many changes, if any, to his starting lineup, though Lukas Jutkiewicz will be hoping to force his way into the first XI after coming off the bench in each of the last seven matches.
As for Cardiff, they have a clean bill of health, but defender Sean Morrison is ruled out due to suspension, with Aden Flint expected to start in the back three as a result.
Striker Kieffer Moore will likely return to the starting lineup at the expense of James Collins, while midfielders Will Vaulks and Rubin Colwill could be handed starts ahead of Joe Ralls and Isaak Davies respectively.
Birmingham City possible starting lineup:
Etheridge; Sanderson, Roberts, Pederson; Graham, James, Sunjic, McGree, Bela; Hogan, Deeney
Cardiff City possible starting lineup:
Smithies; McGuiness, Flint, Nelson; Ng, Vaulks, Pack, Giles; Harris, Colwill; Moore
We say: Birmingham City 2-2 Cardiff City
Both Birmingham and Cardiff will be desperate to put a consistent run of form together to steer themselves clear of danger. However, with little to separate these two unpredictable teams, a score draw could be on the cards at St Andrews.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Cardiff City win with a probability of 36.62%. A win for Birmingham City had a probability of 33.94% and a draw had a probability of 29.4%.
The most likely scoreline for a Cardiff City win was 0-1 with a probability of 12.76%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (7.44%) and 0-2 (7.06%). The likeliest Birmingham City win was 1-0 (12.15%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.44%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 3.9% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole correctly predicted a 2-2 draw for this match.
