Birmingham City v West Bromwich Albion – Preview

Team News

Blues are looking likely to have to do without both Barry Ferguson (Broken Rib) and Craig Gardner (Thigh) while Alexander Hleb is still out. David Bentley and Curtis Davies will be available after being cup-tied for Sunday’s final.

For the Baggies Graham Dorrans is a doubt but otherwise Roy Hodgson has a fully fit squad to pick from.

Last Meeting

Our last meeting took place in September where a poor Blues team were defeated 3-1 despite taking an early lead through Cameron Jerome. The last meeting at St Andrews was back in 2006 and ended 1-1 with Mikael Forssell scoring for Blues from the spot.

Recent Form

While Blues have been doing well in their cups the league form has been a mixed with two wins, two draws and two defeats in the last six. West Brom have drawn four out of the last six with defeats away at Man City and Blackburn in between.

Outlook

What a day last Sunday! It’s one we will never forget and I for one have spent the last week reading every report, watching all the coverage and telling everyone I know about the experience. But that’s enough now It’s time to start concentrating on the next job which is to retain our place in the Premier League. After all we don’t want to be going on our European tour with Championship players. I’m not one of those that believes that a cup run will necessarily have a negative effect on the league but in the immediate aftermath it can take away the concentration. I remember being at St Andrews in 2008 when we put four past a Tottenham team who were clearly still drunk from their Carling Cup celebration. I think Dimitar Berbatov didn’t turn up at all and sent a lookalike in his place. We can’t allow that to happen to us as tomorrow is an important game.

This game is one of those relegation six pointers that we have not done so well in under McLeish. If you look at his record against bottom six teams during this season and in 2008 you will see a lot of draws and not many wins. The win at Upton Park was a very good three points but that needs to be built upon. West Brom desperately need wins and will be targeting this game for one as they themselves have drawn too many of their recent games against sides around them. They probably are thinking that they may be able to catch us cold after all the excitement of last week. We need to show them that we’re not like that and I’d like to think that our manager won’t let that happen. I like the Baggies (My uncle supports them) and I don’t want them to go down. However I don’t want them to stay up at our expense. While we could get the three wins we probably need in our last three games I’d much rather we get them as early as possible to calm the nerves.

The main threat from West Brom will be with their pacy wingers and the likes of Chris Brunt from midfield. We should also watch our for Carlos Vela who has been an excellent loan signing from Arsenal and has scored in the last two (Although his equaliser against Stoke was offside). They have scored a lot of goals this season which is a good thing as they have shipped goals by the bucketful. We should definitely start with both Martins and Zigic and target their dodgy defence as early as possible. If Ferguson and Gardner do both miss out then Lee Bowyer will have to play a more defensive role meaning Keith Fahey could be pushed into the attacking midfield role that he is best suited to. David Bentley will come straight back and I expect him to be itching to make an impact after missing out last week. Depending on how tired Larsson and Beausejour are he could come in on either flank. If we had a bigger squad I would suggest resting more of last weeks team to freshen things up a bit but as it is we’ll need to keep the usual back four in place. Roger Johnson is one who could definitely do with a rest but I expect him to start despite being down to one good leg.

It’s also important for the crowd to continue the good work from last week and keep up the spirits even if there is the expected drop in performance compared to Sunday. It’ll also be a chance for those that couldn’t get a ticket for the final to show their appreciation.

This is a difficult game to predict as I don’t know how Blues will react so I’ll go for 1-1, that’s always a safe bet with Blues.

Enjoy the game. C’mon you Blue boys.