St Andrews will welcome Middlesbrough tonight as Birmingham City look to bounce back from three defeats on the spin. They currently sit in 14th place but it has been a season of extremes so far for Blues fans, who have seen their side reap impressive wins, suffer embarrassing defeats, dominate matches fruitlessly while also displaying a knack for stealing goals against the run of play.
For Boro, meanwhile, things haven’t been too straightforward either. Jonathan Woodgate has suffered a baptism of fire at the Riverside, with his side currently languishing in 20th with 10 points out of as many games and, crucially for tonight, without an away win.
The EFL Championship is an unforgiving league and it will not accommodate for Woodgate, who, if he doesn’t start getting some points under his belt - may find his days are numbered. A landmark victory away from home tonight would help steady the ship, but going off this season, you never really know which Birmingham are going to turn up.
Team news
For the home side, both defender Marc Roberts (hamstring) and midfielder Jacques Maghoma (calf) could return tonight while Josh McEachran currently lacks match fitness.
Boro will be confident that Jonny Howson can make a full return to fitness after he featured in midweek following a surgery on his hernia. Meanwhile, striker Rudy Gestede has returned to training but is not yet ready for a call up to the match day squad. Hayden Coulson (ruptured tendon) and George Friend (thigh) will also watch from the stands.
Predicted line-ups
Birmingham: (4-4-2), Camp, Pedersen, Dean, Roberts, Colin, Sunjic, Gardner, Bellingham, Crowley, Jutkiewicz, Alvaro
Middlesbrough: (4-3-3), Randolph, Shotton, Fry, Ayala, Dijksteel, Clayton, McNair, Howson, Tavernier, Fletcher, Assombalonga
Key Clashes
Crosses into the box
Sheffield Wednesday inflicted an embarrassing 4-1 home defeat upon Middlesbrough on Saturday. It spoke volumes of many weaknesses in this Middlesbrough team, but one fragility stood out in particular: crosses into the box. The Owls pummelled Boro’s penalty area with crosses and the defence simply couldn’t handle it, with Atdhe Nuhiu and Steven Fletcher bullying the defence in the air.
It is not necessarily a weakness you would associate with Boro, who, over the past couple of seasons, have been revered for their defensive physicality and organisation under Tony Pulis. Although, with the departure of Ben Gibson and a new man at the helm, they look a far cry from their past superiority at the back this season. Lukas Jutkiewicz - who will most likely start for the Blues tomorrow, thrives on crosses into the box so will need all the service he can get if the away side really want to punish Middlesbrough.
Three at the back would be ideal for Boro
Woodgate has opted for three at the back only once this season in a 1-0 loss against Cardiff City back in September. Birmingham play with two up top however, and Boro can't be left one-on-one with Jutkiewicz and Alvaro Gimenez. The question is whether Woodgate believes he has the squad to play that formation.
Ryan Shotton is a right back by definition, but certainly has the attributes to move into a three with Daniel Ayala and Dael Fry. What’s more, is the adaptation of a four to a three can often take some time and practice on the training ground, so Woodgate might want to play it safe and stick to what they're used to.
Bellingham to star once again ?
At only 16 years of age, Jude Bellingham is already a match-winner for this Birmingham side. The teenage sensation scored the winner against both Charlton Athletic and Stoke City, writing his name into the history books as Birmingham’s youngest ever scorer. A mercurial talent, Bellingham is reportedly receiving interest from European giants Bayern Munich who could be looking to snap up the youngster at the earliest opportunity.
”Sometimes a young player will have that spark,” said boss Pep Clotet when asked about Bellingham.
Woodgate will have been taking notes, as his Middlesbrough side can not afford for the youngster to continue his hot run of form tonight.
“I want to win football games,” a defiant Woodgate told the press yesterday. “There’s a long way to go, it hasn’t settled down yet (league table). You string a few wins together and and you’ll start shooting up the table.”
His counterpart, Clotet, was markedly less upbeat despite leading the Englishman by three points. “Are we happy with our position or our results in the last three games ? Of course not. We deserved a draw against Derby and Wigan.”
”The thing we must do tonight is prove our fans the big step forward we’ve made,” added Clotet.