Birmingham City VS Stoke City, a low-scoring draw

Match Time：4/10/2021 22:00 Saturday  (GMT+8)

England Championship --  Birmingham City   VS   Stoke City

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Birmingham City play host to Stoke City on Saturday afternoon looking for a victory which could take the club as high as 18th place in the Championship standings.

 

While Blues are attempting to avoid relegation, the visitors have been left to play for pride now that they sit 11 points adrift of the playoffs.

 

Match preview

Faced with a number of difficult fixtures on his arrival at Birmingham, it was far from certain that Lee Bowyer would instigate a revival at St Andrew's during his opening four games.

 

However, seven points from fixtures against Reading, Watford, Swansea City and Brentford has been regarded as a major success, giving supporters some much-needed optimism for the future.

 

With Rotherham still possessing four matches in hand, the task of avoiding the drop into the third tier is far from complete, but Bowyer knows that two wins from the club's remaining six fixtures could be enough.

 

Birmingham still possess the worst attacking record in the division, having failed to score a goal from open play for almost four fixtures.

 

Nevertheless, back-to-back clean sheets against Swansea and Brentford have kept Blues moving in the right direction ahead of three games against several of their relegation rivals later this month.

 

As far as Stoke are concerned, Michael O'Neill will acknowledge that Monday's 2-1 defeat at home to Millwall has effectively eliminated the Potters from the playoff race.

 

With just six matches left, Stoke need to win every game and require help from elsewhere, an unlikely scenario for a team which has failed to win three games in a row all season.

 

At a time when the club has had to cope with FFP issues, there are still positives for O'Neill to take from what has been a year of consolation.

 

However, that perception may change if Stoke do not take advantage of five successive encounters against teams sitting below them in the table.

 

Birmingham City Championship form:LLWLWD

Stoke City Championship form:WLDWWL

 

Team News

With Stoke usually operating with three at the back, Bowyer is likely to stick with the 3-4-1-2 formation which proved effective in earning a draw at Brentford.

 

However, changes in personnel are a possibility with Rekeem Harper and Sam Cosgrove both pushing for opportunities in the side.

 

Jon Toral will miss out for Blues after suffering a hamstring injury during Tuesday's game in the capital.

 

O'Neill could freshen up his Stoke XI with Sam Clucas and Sam Vokes in contention for starting roles.

 

Joe Allen is again expected to miss out with the hamstring injury which he sustained on international duty with Wales.

 

Birmingham City possible starting lineup:

Etheridge; Dean, Roberts, Pedersen; Colin, Gardner, Sunjic, McGree; Halilovic; Hogan, Jutkiewicz

 

Stoke City possible starting lineup:

Davies; Chester, Souttar, Batth; Smith, Mikel, Clucas, Norrington-Davies; Powell; Brown, Vokes

 

Birmingham City 0-0 Stoke City