With the Albion travelling to the midlands tomorrow, there is only one thing that it can be after losing our first two games and that is a battle. Brighton need to go into this game as if they were fighting relegation; when the luck is against you and you aren’t playing well you have to fight tooth and nail to get a victory to put you back on the straight and narrow. If we are honest
Birmingham are no longer the force they used to be and have had to sell some of their better personnel. Whilst Albion have had injury problems there is know excuse for the lacklustre performance against Derby last week.
I think we can expect to see Keith Andrews starting in midfield in place of Ince and personally I would like to see El-Abd come in at right back because Calderon is to easily beaten and that’s one thing you can never say about Adam.
Up front, well we are still making chances but only Ulloa is putting them away, maybe Barker should be played with a twin strike force as by all accounts he is an excellent finisher.
Whatever happens we must come away with a point preferably three, otherwise the confidence will drain from the side and we could find ourselves in trouble.
Vital Quotes:
Albion’s Argentinian striker Leonardo Ulloa has in the ‘Argus’ urged the team to get stuck into Birmingham on Saturday. He wants to stop Birmingham from having time on the ball, which I would agree was a big problem against Derby. Once we have the ball we must do more with it was another Ulloa observation, again totally agree, we were very wasteful in possession Saturday and cannot afford the same at St.Andrews.
Birmingham City Team News:
Zigic the 20ft striker whose header went through a hole in Kuszczaks gloves last season to nick a 2-2 draw is out through injury as are Murphy and Higgins (I don’t know either 🙂 ).
Player to watch: Dan Burn
Dan Burn, a defender on loan from Fulham seems to be the player the Birmingham fanatics are rating but that’s good when their star man is a defender.
Albion Team News:
Brighton have the opportunity to bring new signing Stephen Ward straight in at left back with fellow Irish International Keith Andrews likely to make his first start after coming on as a sub last weekend. Liam Bridcutt continues to be side lined and Kemy Agustien will likely keep his place alongside Andrews.
Player to watch: Stephen Ward
It will be interesting to see what Ward brings to the Albion, hopefully some strength in defence with the ability to get forward. He certainely knows where the goal is for a full back, having scored over 30 goals in his career thus far.
Match Facts & Stats
Albion have played the Blues only 25 times with the outcomes being:
Wins – 6 draws 10 losses – 9
Biggest win for Albion 4-0 in December 1988.
Biggest loss a couple of 3-0s one in 1915!
Last season Birmingham stole a 1-0 win at the Amex and then Tomasz’s blunder gave them a 2-2 away.
Match Prediction:
Given our need for points, I think we will win this one (but I said that for the previous two games) so I will go for a 2-0 win.
Next Fixtures:
24/8/13 Albion v Burnley
31/8/13 Albion v Millwall
