Birmingham City square off against Watford in the Championship on Saturday afternoon having recorded back-to-back victories over top-six sides.

The Hornets, who currently sit in third spot, ended a two-game winless streak in midweek as they comfortably got the better of Rotherham United.

Match preview

Birmingham City manager Aitor Karanka pictured on October 4, 2020 © Reuters

While Aitor Karanka's style of football does not necessarily lend itself to facing teams in the bottom half of the table, they are proving to be effective against opposition further up the standings.

Few people would have given Blues a chance of recording maximum points at Bristol City and Reading, but Karanka's side were good value for their wins at Ashton Gate and the Madejski Stadium.

The latter result came with Birmingham being at a player disadvantage for the final 20 minutes, leaving the Spaniard delighted with the application of his hard-working team.

Although they remain down in 15th position, the West Midlands outfit are now 10 points above the relegation zone, easing the pressure ahead of their next outing.

Blues fans are excited to see former Barcelona youngster Alen Halilovic feature in games such as this one, although the arrival of the Croatian appears to have lifted the performance levels of Jon Toral.

Like Karanka, Vladimir Ivic is having to work hard to win over supporters at Vicarage Road after prioritising the team's efforts in defence.

However, despite the criticism which has been directed at the Serbian, Watford now sit in third position in the table with the second-best backline in the division.

A couple of below-par performances is all it would take for Ivic to be further scrutinised, but the summer arrival will remain confident that he has found the right formula with his Hornets squad.

Troy Deeney ended his wait for a goal from open play against Rotherham, finally netting after a barren spell of 351 minutes since the start of the campaign.

Birmingham City Championship form: DDDLWW

Watford Championship form: DDWDLW

Team News

Watford manager Vladimir Ivic pictured in November 2020 © Reuters

The extra day of recovery may convince Ivic to name the same Watford side from the win over Rotherham United.

However, the Hornets boss is not short of alternatives with James Garner, Will Hughes and Joao Pedro all hopeful of being brought into the team.

Birmingham will have to make do without Harlee Dean, who was sent off for two yellow cards against the Royals.

Mikel San Jose is expected to be brought in as his replacement, but that could prove to be the only change to the starting XI.

Birmingham City possible starting lineup:
Etheridge; Colin, Roberts, San Jose, Pedersen; Kieftenbeld, Sunjic; Sanchez, Toral, Leko; Hogan

Watford possible starting lineup:
Foster; Ngakia, Troost-Ekong, Kabasele, Femenia; Sarr, Cleverley, Chalobah, Sema; Perica, Deeney

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We say: Birmingham City 1-1 Watford

Neither side have been particularly impressive in the final third this season, leading us to think that defences could come out on top at St Andrew's. To a certain extent, a low-scoring draw would be deemed acceptable by both managers, and that is how this game could pan out at the weekend.

Top betting tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

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 Watford win with a probability of 42.77%. A win for Birmingham City had a probability of 29.02% and a draw had a probability of 28.2%.

The most likely scoreline for a Watford win was 0-1 with a probability of 13.13%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (8.38%) and 1-2 (8.36%). The likeliest Birmingham City win was 1-0 (10.27%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.1%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 13.1% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 0-1 win for Watford in this match.