Second City derby: Key battles

Isaac Vassell vs John Terry

The Blues forward has got the pace that enables him to beat any defender in the league, but will coming up against the Villa skipper make it any different?

I think we’d all love to see Vassell leave Terry on his backside after the transfer tug of war in the summer.

Throughout the years, Terry would have dealt with plenty of players with the explosive pace that Vassell has – my one question would be, will he be able to handle it on the day?

My advice for the Blues forward would be to make it as uncomfortable as possible for Terry and put him under all sorts of pressure.

The ball into the channel is a route that we could take and get a lot of joy out of.

Lets not do what we did at Millwall and play it long, that’s not Vassell’s game.

Although he can handle himself strength-wise, there are better ways for us to profit from and use to our advantage.

Blues midfield bite vs Villa technical ability

It’s going to be a very interesting midfield battle this time around. Blues perhaps lack that technical ability, but make up for it with grit and determination.

Villa have the players that are more likely to control proceedings for their side in Conor Hourihane and Glenn Whelan.

In the heat of a derby clash, ability sometimes goes out of the window and it is those who want it more that benefit that bit extra.

If the Blues midfield perform like they did against Cardiff, then they are going to be hard to contain.

They played at a high tempo, were first to every ball and ran their socks off – a repeat of that on Sunday could do the trick.

Michael Morrison vs Jonathan Kodjia

Presuming the Blues skipper retains his place in the starting line-up, the battle between him and Villa’s main man could determine the scoreline.

On his day, Kodjia is one of the best in the league in the way he plays the lone striker role.

I’ve seen him bully numerous defenders and he has previous at St. Andrew’s – scoring twice for Bristol City in 2015.

Morrison was poor at Millwall, but was a crucial component in the victory the week before in Steve Cotterill’s first game.

If he can replicate that display, then he’ll give himself a good chance, but Kodjia is a tricky customer to deal with.