Birmingham v West Brom: Sky Bet Championship betting preview & free tip

Football tips, best bets and predictions for Birmingham City v West Bromwich Albion in the Sky Bet Championship.

Where to watch

Live on Sky Sports Football and Main Event, 12.30pm Saturday

Best bet

West Brom
1pt 10-11 Betfred
Back this tip with bet365

Team news

Birmingham
Gary Gardner (knee) returned to the bench on Wednesday and Fran Villalba (hamstring) is available but Jeremie Bela (groin) is a doubt and Dan Crowley (hamstring), Jake Clarke-Salter (groin), Marc Roberts (ankle) and Maikel Kieftenbeld (knee) are out.

West Brom
Grady Diangana, Hal Robson-Kanu and Matheus Pereira should return after being rested on Wednesday.

Match preview

West Brom missed an opportunity to go top of the Sky Bet Championship when drawing 1-1 at Wigan on Wednesday but can return to the summit for at least a couple of hours by defeating Birmingham at St Andrew's.

The Baggies are on 46 points – the same as leaders Leeds and 11 more than third-placed Fulham – but did not look like automatic promotion material at the DW Stadium in midweek

Slaven Bilic rotated his squad, leaving out influential attackers Grady Diangana, Matheus Pereira and Hal Robson-Kanu, and the decision backfired with Albion dropping points against a Latics side entrenched in the relegation zone.

It could have been even worse for Albion, who did not look like scoring until Wigan goalkeeper Jamie Jones picked up a back pass, allowing Charlie Austin to level from close-range.

Bilic's squad may not be as deep as he thought, but his first-choice 11 is a match for anyone in the division.

Last Sunday West Brom won 5-1 at home to Swansea with Pereira scoring one and assisting the other four for Semi Ajayi, Robson-Kanu, Matt Phillips and Kyle Edwards.

The Sporting Lisbon loanee is top of the second-tier assists charts with 11 and is an obvious danger to Birmingham, whose defence is weakened by injuries to centre-backs Marc Roberts and Jake Clarke-Salter.

Birmingham have other injury concerns with midfield regular Dan Crowley sidelined and winger Jeremie Bela nursing a groin strain.

Free-agent signing Bela has been an instant hit since his arrival last month but he lasted just 53 minutes of Wednesday's 2-0 loss at home to QPR and will be a big miss if failing to recover.

With a fully-fit squad Birmingham are not without hope of pushing towards the playoffs, but they have key players missing right now and may struggle to cope with the division's top scorers.

Key stat

West Brom are unbeaten in their last 11 matches.

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