Blues travel to East Anglia tomorrow to face difficult opposition in Norwich City. Norwich will be looking for all three points against a vulnerable Birmingham side who have only won one league game this season and no away victory yet.
Blues however, will probably be looking for a point against a free scoring Norwich side who have scored 7 goals in their last two games. After a dire performance and a disappointing 2-0 loss to Sheffield Wednesday at St.Andrews on Tuesday, Blues will have to bounce back strong and be resolute if they wish to get anything from the game.
Norwich are in 2nd place with only one loss and five wins out of seven. Blues are struggling down the other end of the table in 20th with only one win so far.
The last time Norwich and Blues met was in 2009 in a Championship tie at St.Andrews which ended 1-1 with now Norwich striker Cameron Jerome scoring for then Blues’ manager Alex McLeish’s side.
Two former Birmingham players will be in action tomorrow for the Canaries; Cameron Jerome and Nathan Redmond who both scored in midweek in the 3-0 win against Brentford. Striker, Jerome, played 181 games for Birmingham from 2006-2011 scoring 37 goals.
One of his more memorable goals was his 35 yard screamer at Anfield in 2010 to give Blues the lead. 20 year old winger and England u21 international Nathan Redmond is the other player that will be facing his hometown for the first time since leaving last season.
Redmond made 62 appearances for City over three seasons from 2010-2013. He managed to bag 11 goals and scored a historic goal in Blues’ first Europe League game against Portuguese side Nacional in front of a packed St.Andrews with a crisp 25 yard strike.
He shone in the Blues side in the 2011/12 and 2012/13 season which gifted him a move to then Premier League side Norwich for a fee of around £3 million.
Vital Quotes:
Canaries boss Neil Adams on Birmingham City:
‘It`s a big test for us, it`s a big test for the players physically as well, but so far so good’
‘Birmingham are a tough outfit but we`re confident going into it that we can keep this run going.’
Neil Adams on Norwich:
‘I always feel if we`re playing at the top of our game with the right sort of approach and our quality shines through, then we`re more than capable of beating any team in the division.’
Birmingham manager Lee Clark says he is relishing the chance of being underdogs:
‘We have got a game plan that we have talked about with the players this morning and we will work on it again tomorrow. Hopefully we will have it set in stone and when that works we can go and play our own brand of football as well and give them problems.’
When asked about the atmosphere in the dressing room after a disappointing start to season this is what he had to say:
‘It’s very good but they`re all hurting because we don`t like to lose, especially when we`ve played so well in the first-half. We are what we are. We`re a team that`s young and hungry. I think we`ve got faults but we`ve just got to keep going and dissect every game and debrief like we did yesterday and moved on today to Norwich and work over the next hours to get a performance and result at Carrow Road.’
Norwich Team News:
Captain Russell Martin will be back in action tomorrow after recovering from a back injury.
However, key players, Wes Hoolahan (groin), Jonny Howson (knee) and Gary Hooper (deadleg) are all still injured and will play no part.
Player to watch: Lewis Grabban
Grabban has been a successful striker over the years and will have the chance to be a threat to Birmingham.
Birmingham City Team News:
Lee Clark’s side have been hit with injuries recently with attackers Lee Novak, Denny Johnstone and Koby Arthur all picking up knocks in the last month, ruling them out of all recent games and this week to add to the list, right back Neal Eardley has injured his medial ligament and will be sidelined for a month.
Olly Lee and Matt Green are also ruled out.
Player to watch: David Edgar
The big man has been important in all of Blues wins so far and they will need a stern performance again to keep Blues on track.
Match Facts & Stats
? The last meeting ended as a 1-1 draw at St. Andrew’s in the Championship in March 2009.
? Norwich are unbeaten in the last four meetings, winning two. Birmingham’s last win was 2-1 at St. Andrew’s in the League Cup in October 2005.
? Norwich are unbeaten in the last three meetings at Carrow Road, winning two. Birmingham’s last win there was 1-0 in the old Division One in March 2002.
Match Prediction:
I’m feeling optimistic about tomorrow and think we will snatch an early goal through Clayton Donaldson and hold out for a 1-0 win. Keep Right On and COME ON YOU BLUES!
Next Fixtures:
27 Sept – Fulham – Championship – 15:00 (H)
30 Sept – Millwall – Championship – 19:45 (A)
04 Oct – Charlton – Championship – 15:00 (A)
18 Oct – Bolton – Championship – 15:00 (H)
ARTICLE BY HARRY sHERSBY-WIGNALL