Wolverhampton Wanderers vs Birmingham City – Preview

Team News

Wolves have doubts over a number of key players including Matt Jarvis, Dave Jones, Michael Mancienne and Kevin Doyle.  Most of those are expected to play though.

Blues have no new injury worries but are still expected to make changes with Larsson and Zigic pushing for recalls.

Last Meeting

The last meeting was in February when two late Kevin Phillips goals gave Blues victory.  The last match at Molineaux also ended in a Blues win through Lee Bowyer’s third minute chip.

Recent Form

Blues are unbeaten in four matches but are the league’s draw specialists having drawn four out of their last six games.  They have picked up five points away from home this season, all draws.

Wolves sit 19th in both the league and the form table having lost five of the last six.  They have a better record at home where all but one of their twelve points have been gained.

Outlook

On Sunday we make the short but not particularly pleasant journey to Wolverhampton to play struggling Wolves.  This is the first of two important games for us (with Newcastle at home to follow next week) where we should be looking to get points before the difficult Christmas fixtures.  I think four points from these two is a minimum if we are to keep a safe distance from the drop zone as 2011 begins.  That said there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be looking to get all six.

By all reports Wolves have been poor of late and have not been helped by injuries to key players.  Their start strike duo of Doyle and Fletcher (Who cost more than Zigic and Jerome) have not fired and they seem to have to put out a new central defensive partnership every week.  The only bright spot for them has been the form of Matt Jarvis although he is a doubt for this one.  They have scored as many goals as us but they have conceded eleven more.  Those stats say one thing to me, attack them.  We need to start with both Zigic and Jerome to test their weak defence and I would also get Phillips on the bench because he always scores against them.

So am I confident? Well no and the reason is because it’s away from home.  Under McLeish in the Premier League we have won just five of thirty nine games away from St Andrews and the last one was in March.  I’m not sure why this is because he often pick’s the same teams as in the home games but they never seem to go out with the same ambition.  I believe that the safety first approach hurts us in this respect and sometimes I’d like them to just go for it a bit more.  We’ve also not got a great record this season playing the sides at the bottom.  Hopefully Sunday will be the time that things start to change but I think the draw is the favourite once again.

My Prediction – Wolves 1-1 Birmingham.  Jarvis for them Jerome for us.