Albion will look to extend their unbeaten run to 12 games with a victory when they face Blues at St Andrew’s Trillion Trophy Stadium on Saturday (ko 12.30pm).
Birmingham
Their last outing
On Wednesday night, Blues fell to a 2-0 defeat at St Andrew’s against Queens Park Rangers.
Grant Hall netted the opener for the visitors in first-half injury time and despite Birmingham searching for a leveller, in the 67th minute Bright Osayi-Samuel ran from his own half all the way into the Blues box and lashed home a second QPR goal to seal the victory for the Rs.
Blues: Trueman; Colin, Dean, Harding, Pedersen; Sunjic, McEachran; Bela (Bailey 54), Bellingham (Montero 64), Maghoma; Giménez (Jutkiewicz 53).
Substitutes: Camp, Gardner, Davis, Bajrami.
In the dugout
Pep Clotet has been a manager or coach since 2001, taking on a variety of jobs around Europe before arriving at Swansea City as an academy consultant under Michael Laudrup, but was promoted to assistant manager when Garry Monk took charge.
Since then, Pep has followed Monk to Leeds United, had a six-month spell in charge of Oxford United, reunited himself with Monk at Birmingham City and then become caretaker manager at the club in the summer - and was named head coach at the beginning of December.
One to watch
Forward Lukas Jutkiewicz arrived at St Andrew’s in 2017, initially on loan before agreeing a permanent deal.
Since then the 30-year-old has played more than 100 games and scored 14 Championship goals last season, and already has five to his name during this campaign.
He has also played for Swindon Town, Everton, Coventry City, Middlesbrough and Burnley.
Our last meeting
Our most recent clash with Blues was at The Hawthorns in March. Despite the visitors taking the lead through Gary Gardner, Dwight Gayle levelled the scores just after half-time.
Then before the hour mark Jutkiewicz fired Blues ahead, only for Jay Rodriguez to net a penalty five minutes later. Jake Livermore then fired in from the edge of the box to secure a 3-2 win for the Baggies.
Stats
Albion
• Bilić’s Baggies have the best away form in the league (P11, W7, D3, L1).
• Albion are the top scorers in the Championship with 42 goals - the next highest scorers are Bristol City, with 34 goals.
• The Throstles have lost just one of their 21 Sky Bet Championship games this season.
Birmingham
• Blues have won just one of their last seven games (P7, W1, D3, L3).
• Pep Clotet’s side have scored three or more goals in a single game just once this season, beating Reading 3-2.
• The last eight goals Birmingham have scored have come from seven different scorers, with Alvaro Giménez the only player to score twice since a 4-2 loss at Cardiff at the beginning of November.
Head to head
|
|
Albion wins |
Draws |
Blues wins |
|
League |
50 |
34 |
34 |
|
FA Cup |
7 |
1 |
1 |
|
League Cup |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
Total |
58 |
36 |
35 |
Our man to watch
Charlie Austin has found the net in each of the last four games he has been involved in for the Baggies.
His goals in recent weeks have earned Albion five points; he netted winning penalties against Sheffield Wednesday and Preston North End and the equaliser against Wigan Athletic. He also found the back of the net in the 4-1 win against Bristol City.
Best of social
Some of our moments of magic so far this season...
20 games in. No shortage of memorable moments so far in the @SkyBetChamp. 💥
— West Bromwich Albion (@WBA) December 11, 2019
UP THE ALBION!#WIGWBA | #WBA pic.twitter.com/Vo8Ly5ma33
Ticket news
Albion have sold out the away end at Blues, with 2,800 Baggies set to travel to St Andrew’s on Saturday.
Thank you, as always, for your brilliant support.
Follow the game
Comprehensive coverage of the clash with Blues is available in our Match Centre, where you can listen to live commentary on WBA Radio or follow our live text feed.
WBA Radio is the only service that allows Baggies fans around the world - from Smethwick to the Sahara - access to uninterrupted live commentaries from every one of our competitive games. iFollow subscribers can join Gez Mulholland and Andy Johnson for Baggies-biased live commentary on Saturday.
Supporters who have an iFollow subscription may be able to live stream the game depending on where they are located around the world. To find out, click here.
You’ll also be able to find score updates on the club's social media channels.
