Birmingham City v Preston North End
Championship 3pm kick off
The word on the street is that Happy Arry could be only a game or two away from the exit door at St Andrews. having lost the last five and not won in seven pressure is mounting on Harry from Sandbanks.
Spent a fortune during the transfer window bringing in about 13 players mainly from Brentford, sadly for Redknapp his biggest signing Jota appeared to go off with a hamstring strain which added to Che Adams injury is a major blow to the Blues.
He has recruited well although at the moment they have not quite clicked, Gallagher from Southampton on loan plus Jenkinson from Arsenal also on loan pus a couple of younsters on loan from Chelsea and Arsenal.
Apparently they are playing well and Arry thinks that they will have no problems getting into the play offs, (let's see how that pans out)
Johnson is said to be back in the frame for North End with Pearson targeting the Millwall game to get his next booking, should be an unchanged side however Mr Neil does tend to surprise with team selection so we'll have to wait and see.
Sold 1500 so far out of the original allocation of 1500 apparently we may exceed that, one slight worry is we beat Cardiff 3-0 this time last year then promptly lost 5-0 at Brentford that day if memory serves me right the referee was K Stroud and guess who we have on Saturday.
After picking up ten points from a possible 12 at home so far this season, Alex Neil is now targeting his first win on the road as North End boss.
The Lilywhites have picked up points at Elland Road and the Riverside this season, with the only defeat coming against Derby County, a penalty the difference in that game.
The gaffer now wants to make sure his side are picking up the points the performances deserve, starting with a trip to St Andrew's to face Birmingham City on Saturday.
On the away form, the manager said: "I think for this team and for us to really kick on this year we need to go away to difficult grounds and win three points.
"I think this season two of our best performances have been on the road which was Leeds and Middlesbrough. I thought we were great in both games but ultimately we didn't win either and I thought we should have.
"So I think the next step for us to be a real force to be reckoned with is to go away to difficult venues and manage to win."
Neil has every confidence that his side has the capabilities to go to the top sides in the division and win games.
"I don't think there's any question that we can do it, I think performances have suggested that but I think the longer it goes on without that game then questions start to rise." He continued.
"I'm more than confident that we will go to Birmingham and put in a good performance and if we do that, we give ourselves a good chance of winning.
"Anybody who has watched us away from home will know we approch the game in the exact same manner, if anything we have probably been more aggressive at Leeds and at Middlesbrough.
"We don't go to any ground and be scared of the opposition, we want to go there and take the game to them and try and win so that's exactly how we will go about it."
Harry Redknapp is hopeful that the hamstring injuries sustained by Jota and Che Adams are not too serious and that the duo have picked up strains rather than tears.
The pair were injured in the latter stages of Blues’ midweek defeat away at Leeds United and will now undergo scans to ascertain the full extent of their injuries.
“I think they are strains hopefully, but they are going to be a few weeks - three or four weeks. It's a bit of a blow,” said the Blues boss.
“Che Adams was on his way back (from a hamstring injury on the other leg).
“We didn’t want to start him at Leeds.
“We felt he needed another 30 minutes or half-hour and he’d be ready to play this weekend.
“But unfortunately, he did the opposite hamstring to the one that he had before.
“He’d never had a hamstring injury before, so it’s amazing.
“And Jota, who we brought from Brentford - our record signing, he did a hamstring as well with about 10 minutes to go, so he’s not available.”
LAST TIME OUT FOR BIRMINGHAM
13 David Stockdale
5 Maxime Colin
28 Michael Morrison
12 Harlee Dean
2 Emilio Nsue
17 Cheikh Ndoye
26 David Davis Jacques Maghoma 80'
21 Jason Lowe
20 Jeremie Boga
27 José Ignacio Peleteiro Ramallo Liam Walsh 80'
18 Sam Gallagher Che Adams 69'
Substitutes
19 Jacques Maghoma
10 Lukas Jutkiewicz
24 Liam Walsh
3 Jonathan Grounds
14 Che Adams
29 Tomasz Kuszczak
4 Marc Roberts
Stat Attack: Birmingham City
Names have played an important part in the history of today’s opponents. The first four away fixtures we played against them were not as Birmingham City, but under their previous name of Small Heath, the area of Birmingham in which the club was formed in 1875.
They only became Birmingham in 1905 and did not add ‘City’ to their title until 1943. Our first five league games were played at their Muntz Street ground (probably one of the most commonly misspelt names for a football stadium), before they moved to St Andrews since 1906.
No matter what name we have played them under or where, our away record against the Blue Noses has not been as good as at Deepdale.
We only took two points from our first eight visits, before finally gaining a victory in 1913 and Ross Wallace’s late winner eight years ago was only the eighth time we have returned home with all the points. However, we are undefeated in the last three fixtures and have won two of the last five at St Andrews, losing only once.
Our first ever league game at Muntz Street is notable, as it was the first time we had ever drawn a league match 4-4! In fact, we have only recorded that scoreline seven times in our history and six of those have come in away matches.
Players to have appeared for both clubs include Darren Carter, Archie Gemmill, Howard Kendall and Neil Kilkenny.
On This Date
Former goalkeeper Wayne Henderson was born today in 1983. Yet another Irishman to play for North End, Wayne’s time at Deepdale was dogged by injury and he was forced to retire in 2011 after on ten games following his move from Brighton four years earlier.
One of a select group of brothers to appear together in North End’s first team, Mark Jones is 57 today. Mark played alongside his brother David, the former Southampton, Wolves and Cardiff City manager, in our defence during the 1984/85 season.
Callum Robinson made the first of his four debuts for North End three years ago today, in a 3-3 home draw with Chesterfield. This was the match in which Eoin Doyle’s hat-trick for the Spireites saw them come back from being three goals down in less than half an hour to draw in the final minute.
Brian McBride became the first American to play for North End when he made his debut today in 2000. Brian was another player whom we saw too little of in a North End shirt due to injury, a blood clot in his arm keeping him out of action for three months. Although he only made 11 appearances, which brought a solitary goal against QPR, he made an excellent impression during his time at Deepdale and is well regarded by North End, Everton and Fulham fans.
Last Five Fixtures At St Andrews
Birmingham City 2 (Shotton, Adams) Preston North End 2 (Baptiste, Johnson), 27th Sept 2016
Birmingham City 2 (Donaldson, 2) Preston North End 2 (Browne, Cunningham), 19th Apr 2016
Birmingham City 1 (Fahey) Preston North End 2 (McKenna, Wallace), 25th Apr 2009
Birmingham City 3 (McSheffrey, 3) Preston North End 1 (Ormerod), 9th Dec 2006
Birmingham City 0 Preston North End 2 (Fuller, Lewis), 5th Nov 2002
Birmingham City v Preston North End
KEITH STROUD
James Mainwaring and Nick Greenhalgh
Fourth Official: Darren Handley
Championship 3pm kick off
The word on the street is that Happy Arry could be only a game or two away from the exit door at St Andrews. having lost the last five and not won in seven pressure is mounting on Harry from Sandbanks.
Spent a fortune during the transfer window bringing in about 13 players mainly from Brentford, sadly for Redknapp his biggest signing Jota appeared to go off with a hamstring strain which added to Che Adams injury is a major blow to the Blues.
He has recruited well although at the moment they have not quite clicked, Gallagher from Southampton on loan plus Jenkinson from Arsenal also on loan pus a couple of younsters on loan from Chelsea and Arsenal.
Apparently they are playing well and Arry thinks that they will have no problems getting into the play offs, (let's see how that pans out)
Johnson is said to be back in the frame for North End with Pearson targeting the Millwall game to get his next booking, should be an unchanged side however Mr Neil does tend to surprise with team selection so we'll have to wait and see.
Sold 1500 so far out of the original allocation of 1500 apparently we may exceed that, one slight worry is we beat Cardiff 3-0 this time last year then promptly lost 5-0 at Brentford that day if memory serves me right the referee was K Stroud and guess who we have on Saturday.
After picking up ten points from a possible 12 at home so far this season, Alex Neil is now targeting his first win on the road as North End boss.
The Lilywhites have picked up points at Elland Road and the Riverside this season, with the only defeat coming against Derby County, a penalty the difference in that game.
The gaffer now wants to make sure his side are picking up the points the performances deserve, starting with a trip to St Andrew's to face Birmingham City on Saturday.
On the away form, the manager said: "I think for this team and for us to really kick on this year we need to go away to difficult grounds and win three points.
"I think this season two of our best performances have been on the road which was Leeds and Middlesbrough. I thought we were great in both games but ultimately we didn't win either and I thought we should have.
"So I think the next step for us to be a real force to be reckoned with is to go away to difficult venues and manage to win."
Neil has every confidence that his side has the capabilities to go to the top sides in the division and win games.
"I don't think there's any question that we can do it, I think performances have suggested that but I think the longer it goes on without that game then questions start to rise." He continued.
"I'm more than confident that we will go to Birmingham and put in a good performance and if we do that, we give ourselves a good chance of winning.
"Anybody who has watched us away from home will know we approch the game in the exact same manner, if anything we have probably been more aggressive at Leeds and at Middlesbrough.
"We don't go to any ground and be scared of the opposition, we want to go there and take the game to them and try and win so that's exactly how we will go about it."
Harry Redknapp is hopeful that the hamstring injuries sustained by Jota and Che Adams are not too serious and that the duo have picked up strains rather than tears.
The pair were injured in the latter stages of Blues’ midweek defeat away at Leeds United and will now undergo scans to ascertain the full extent of their injuries.
“I think they are strains hopefully, but they are going to be a few weeks - three or four weeks. It's a bit of a blow,” said the Blues boss.
“Che Adams was on his way back (from a hamstring injury on the other leg).
“We didn’t want to start him at Leeds.
“We felt he needed another 30 minutes or half-hour and he’d be ready to play this weekend.
“But unfortunately, he did the opposite hamstring to the one that he had before.
“He’d never had a hamstring injury before, so it’s amazing.
“And Jota, who we brought from Brentford - our record signing, he did a hamstring as well with about 10 minutes to go, so he’s not available.”
LAST TIME OUT FOR BIRMINGHAM
13 David Stockdale
5 Maxime Colin
28 Michael Morrison
12 Harlee Dean
2 Emilio Nsue
17 Cheikh Ndoye
26 David Davis Jacques Maghoma 80'
21 Jason Lowe
20 Jeremie Boga
27 José Ignacio Peleteiro Ramallo Liam Walsh 80'
18 Sam Gallagher Che Adams 69'
Substitutes
19 Jacques Maghoma
10 Lukas Jutkiewicz
24 Liam Walsh
3 Jonathan Grounds
14 Che Adams
29 Tomasz Kuszczak
4 Marc Roberts
Stat Attack: Birmingham City
Names have played an important part in the history of today’s opponents. The first four away fixtures we played against them were not as Birmingham City, but under their previous name of Small Heath, the area of Birmingham in which the club was formed in 1875.
They only became Birmingham in 1905 and did not add ‘City’ to their title until 1943. Our first five league games were played at their Muntz Street ground (probably one of the most commonly misspelt names for a football stadium), before they moved to St Andrews since 1906.
No matter what name we have played them under or where, our away record against the Blue Noses has not been as good as at Deepdale.
We only took two points from our first eight visits, before finally gaining a victory in 1913 and Ross Wallace’s late winner eight years ago was only the eighth time we have returned home with all the points. However, we are undefeated in the last three fixtures and have won two of the last five at St Andrews, losing only once.
Our first ever league game at Muntz Street is notable, as it was the first time we had ever drawn a league match 4-4! In fact, we have only recorded that scoreline seven times in our history and six of those have come in away matches.
Players to have appeared for both clubs include Darren Carter, Archie Gemmill, Howard Kendall and Neil Kilkenny.
On This Date
Former goalkeeper Wayne Henderson was born today in 1983. Yet another Irishman to play for North End, Wayne’s time at Deepdale was dogged by injury and he was forced to retire in 2011 after on ten games following his move from Brighton four years earlier.
One of a select group of brothers to appear together in North End’s first team, Mark Jones is 57 today. Mark played alongside his brother David, the former Southampton, Wolves and Cardiff City manager, in our defence during the 1984/85 season.
Callum Robinson made the first of his four debuts for North End three years ago today, in a 3-3 home draw with Chesterfield. This was the match in which Eoin Doyle’s hat-trick for the Spireites saw them come back from being three goals down in less than half an hour to draw in the final minute.
Brian McBride became the first American to play for North End when he made his debut today in 2000. Brian was another player whom we saw too little of in a North End shirt due to injury, a blood clot in his arm keeping him out of action for three months. Although he only made 11 appearances, which brought a solitary goal against QPR, he made an excellent impression during his time at Deepdale and is well regarded by North End, Everton and Fulham fans.
Last Five Fixtures At St Andrews
Birmingham City 2 (Shotton, Adams) Preston North End 2 (Baptiste, Johnson), 27th Sept 2016
Birmingham City 2 (Donaldson, 2) Preston North End 2 (Browne, Cunningham), 19th Apr 2016
Birmingham City 1 (Fahey) Preston North End 2 (McKenna, Wallace), 25th Apr 2009
Birmingham City 3 (McSheffrey, 3) Preston North End 1 (Ormerod), 9th Dec 2006
Birmingham City 0 Preston North End 2 (Fuller, Lewis), 5th Nov 2002
Birmingham City v Preston North End
KEITH STROUD
James Mainwaring and Nick Greenhalgh
Fourth Official: Darren Handley
Have you heard about the news on Mizar 5
People got to shout to stay alive
People got to shout to stay alive
cannot beat a bit of smugness
