[themaclad]

FORM GUIDE

BRUM 3 PNE 5

LAST TIME OUT



The Blues payed in the cup against Forest Green won 2-1 but needed keeper Neil Ethridge to do this



In The Dressing Room

Manager Ryan Lowe is hoping there could be a few players returning from injury in Saturday's game.

Ben Whiteman, Ched Evans and Brad Potts will all play some part in training on Thursday, and their progress will be monitored ahead of the visit to Birmingham.

Sean Maguire is back in full training and should be available for selection, with Emil Riis and Lewis Leigh now the only two longer-term absentees.

A Look At Our Hosts

Birmingham City, sat 18th in the Championship, head into the weekend following four successive defeats in the league, however they did come out on top on Tuesday night in their FA Cup third round replay against Forest Green Rovers.

Head coach John Eustace – in his first season at St. Andrew’s – opted to make five changes for the 2-1 victory, but it was only after a switch to a back four in the second half that their success came.

He admitted after the match that he may look at that formation moving forward, having played a 3-5-2 for the majority of the Championship campaign so far.

Going Head To Head


Games played: 102
PNE wins: 40
Draws: 25
Birmingham City wins: 37
Last victory: Birmingham City 0-1 PNE, 20th January 2021

One To Watch

Birmingham City’s main source of goals this season has been forward Scott Hogan, who has netted nine in his 22 league matches.

The experienced Championship forward, who has 12 caps for Republic of Ireland, is on track to have his best campaign since 2016/17, when he scored 14 times in just 25 games for Brentford.

Hogan has recently been missing with a hamstring injury and Blues’ form dipped in his absence, but he made his return to action last weekend and will be hoping for a clear run now until the end of the season.

Match Officials

Rebecca Welch will make history this weekend, becoming the first female referee to take charge of a Championship fixture.

Welch, who was the main official for an EFL fixture for the first time in July 2021, boasts vast experience in the women’s game, having officiated at the Euros, in the Champions League and in World Cup qualifiers.

So far this season, Welch has refereed 11 matches, showing 32 yellow cards, and there has tended to be plenty of goals in those games too, with a combined total of 37 being scored.

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MACS VIEWS

A week on from that shocker last Saturday, off to St Andrew's on that wonderful M6, what delays will we get this time, surely we cannot play as badly as we did last week, hopefully Lowe will get the formation right.
Been a few times to St Andrew's last seasons 0-0 was a shocker, we seem to have had a few of those since the Covid restart, occasionally have seen them win there.
Like us they are going through a tough time, off the pitch, appear to be rudderless and are struggling a bit on it, won't be easy never is there but we need 100% improvement on last weeks gash