Birmingham City face Wolverhampton Wanderers (15:00) tomorrow in the Sky Bet Championship. Gary Rowett’s men are 15th in the league and are hoping they can throw a spanner in works as Wolves hope to achieve the unthinkable.
Blues have improved at home under their new manager. Rowett has worked wonders in turning St Andrews into something of a safe haven from the depths of despair under Clark.
A competent outfit on the counter attack, teams that come to Blues trying to win the game often find themselves open and on the back foot having underestimated the home team.
Blues have won 3 of their last 6 at home and are unbeaten in their last 5. Rotherham was an interesting game, Blues looked to be in the driving seat before allowing the away side back into the game.
6th placed Wolves are in good form having defeated Forest 2-1 the last time they were out on the road. They have won 3 of their last 6 away from home but have suffered defeats to Bournemouth and Norwich.
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The last time these two met it was Gary Rowett’s first game in charge and he managed to carve out a resilient 0-0 draw that even drew praise from Kenny Jacket.
Wolves are as tough as they come at the moment, they are 3rd in the form table and just at the right time in the season. They’re unbeaten in 6 games and have won their last 4.
I would expect to see Wolves have more of the ball and register plenty of shots at goal, whether they’ll be on target will remain to be seen. Blues are difficult to play through (sometimes).
Wolves will attack down their right hand side, play a short passing game and seek to widen play where they can. Blues will need to be organised and work hard to make sure Wolves can’t create the space.
It’s no secret the visitors have put together an impressive squad as well. I have done my best to narrow it down to 3 key men for on the day.
Firstly, Clayton Donaldson will need to contend with Danny Batth. He has 41 league appearances this season, a rock at the back for Wolves and certainly difficult to play against. At the age of 24, hes only going to get better. However I do think that Donaldson may well get the better of the Wolves back line for pace.
Secondly, Wolves key man is Bakary Sako. He has 13 goals this season and also 5 assists. He is a good dribbler, a set-piece taker and has the ability to fire off a long shot when teams sit off Wolves.
On the plus side, Sako doesn’t particularly defend too well, and that will allow one of Blues wingers to get one on one with either Doherty or Golbourne.
An outstanding player on his day this man has the quality to really hurt Birmingham. Whether he plays on the right or left, he will need specific attention, Blues will sit off to counter Wolves pace so the midfielders will need to keep an eye on Sako and stop him from being the playmaker.
Finally I’m going to go for Benik Afobe. Since joining Wolves he has scored 10 goals in 16 appearances and also has an impressive 4 assists. Hes hit the ground running.
He is a very good all round striker, he will run at you, he can get in behind to finish and will also hold up the ball well for his team mates. Should he play, which I think he will either behind or alongside Dicko, he will cause Blues problems.
So how do I think this game will turn out?
Well Wolves coming to attack Birmingham will certainly make for a very good game. The visitors need to win, and Blues are far better on the counter than they are trying to take control of a game.
It all depends on whether Blues can get a hold of their defensive issues and again they will need to take the chances that fall their way. Blues showed last time out they have what it takes to surprise.
With that said, you can’t ignore Wolves form and their quality at the moment. I think we could get a very respectable 1-1 draw tomorrow. (I hope)
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