It’s four wins on the bounce and 11 unbeaten for Garry Monk’s Blue and White army and the feel good factor is well a truly around the club at the moment.
Birmingham dispatched Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 at home last weekend after a very poor first half an hour where we could have been trailing by two or three, but we got that bit of luck that had eluded us at the start of the season.
This weekend is going to be a different kettle of fish as we head to Pride Park to face an in form Derby County side.
This is going to be the Blues toughest test so far since the unbeaten run started because this Derby side have quality in abundance and that was clear to see when they hammered West Brom 4-1 a couple of weeks ago. This Birmingham side however are made of sterner stuff these days and are no push overs and that’s clear to see from the games we have lost only being 0-1 score-lines.
Unfortunately for the Blues they will be without Jacques Maghoma again this weekend due to the winger still recovering from a knock on his ankle. There’s no official word on whether Harlee Dean will be out of the game, hopefully that one was only an impact injury to the hip and the week off has allowed it to ease off. Other than that it’s still only David Davis and Isaac Vassell who are the only long term absentees from the squad.
Derby on the other hand were in midweek action in the League Cup against Chelsea – this could be a big impact on the weekends game depending on what type of side they field. They played a strong outfit against Chelsea as the incentive was to go out and get themselves a place in the Quarter-Final, unfortunately for them they fell to a 3-2 defeat.
I expect Birmingham to line-up more or less the same side that played against Sheffield Wednesday – after all why change a winning formula?
Camp
Colin, Morrison, Dean, Pedersen
Jota, Gardner, Kieftenbeld, Mahoney
Adams, Jutkiewicz
I’m hoping Dean will be straight back into the side despite Marc Roberts’ very strong performance when he came on, whilst Adams and Jutkiewicz will be hoping to continue their goal scoring partnership.
Carson
Bogle, Keogh, Tomori, Malone
Wilson, Huddleston, Mount
Waghorn, Marriot, Lawrence
As you can see there’s a lot of attacking talent in that Derby side and the midfield especially is very strong with the two quality youngsters in Mount and Wilson – lets just hope Gary and Kieft are firing on all cylinders and can make the afternoon a hard one for their opposite numbers.
I must admit I’m not entirely confident about this one and I feel if we’re going to lose any game at the moment it’s going to be against Derby, but I do feel the Blues are more than capable of getting something out of this game. My head’s saying 2-1 Derby and my heart is saying 1-1, so I’m going to go with my heart and say 1-1 for this one (which I would take in a heartbeat) and Jutkiewicz being the man to get our goal.
Have a good week Bluenoses and if your one of the packed out away end I’ll see you there!
Keep Right On!
Picture Credit: Birmingham City
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