Preview: Birmingham City vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers

The West Midlands takes centre stage on Saturday lunchtime for a Championship derby between Birmingham City and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The home side saw their four-match winning run come to an end last week, while Wolves are desperate to end their three-game losing streak.

Birmingham

The Blues have been celebrating one year with Gary Rowett as manager this week and what an impact the former midfielder has had in the last 12 months.

The 41-year-old inherited a side that had just lost 8-0 to Bournemouth at home and were lying in the bottom three. He did more than keep than up, achieving a top-10 finish and now this season the Blues look like genuine playoff contenders.

They had a chance to make it five wins in a row and close the gap to leaders Brighton & Hove Albion at Hull City last weekend, but a 2-0 defeat saw them drop from second to sixth.

Defensive stability and consistent team selection have been the name of the game under Rowett.

He quickly tightened them up at the back and again this season they have been a tough nut to crack - there have been two goals or fewer in seven of the Blues' last eight matches in the Championship.

Rowett has also used fewer players than any other manager in the league this term with only 18 players appearing.

Recent form: LWWWWL

Wolves

Kenny Jackett's team have lost three consecutive league matches for the first time since December last year, when they went on a five-game losing streak which derailed their playoff charge.

Last week was certainly not kind to the club as they lost all three games and conceded nine goals in the process.

After a 4-2 beating at Derby County they had back-to-back home games against Brentford and Middlesbrough and went down 2-0 and 3-1 to drop to 14th in the table, nine points behind Saturday's opponents Birmingham in the final playoff spot.

Wolves were leading against promotion favourites Middlesbrough, but then lost defender Kortney Hause to injury which seemed to help Boro as they found the net three times late on to wrap up victory.

Wolves are already light at the back and Hause's absence has seen Jackett look to the loan market, and earlier today they secured the one-month signing of Mike Williamson from Newcastle United.

The Black Country club also added teenage striker Daniel Armstrong, but it is unlikely that he will come into the first-team thinking quite yet.

Recent form: DWWLLL

Team News

Birmingham's star midfielder David Cotterill returned to the bench against Hull and is likely to come back into the starting XI here.

He could take Jacques Maghoma's place out wide, while in midfield Andrew Shinnie might be preferred to Jonathan Spector after coming on at half time for the American at the KC Stadium.

With Hause out for around six weeks, Williamson could come straight into the Wolves defence and join captain Danny Batth at centre-back. Dominic Iorfa is also close to a return.

Further forward, Rajiv van La Parra is expected to miss at least a fortnight, so either James Henry or Sheyi Ojo could come in behind striker Benik Afobe.

Birmingham possible starting lineup: Kuszczak; Caddis, Morrison, Robinson, Grounds; Gleeson, Kieftenbeld; Cotterill, Shinnie, Gray; Donaldson

Wolves possible starting lineup: Martinez; Doherty, Batth, Williamson, Golbourne; McDonald, Coady; Byrne, Edwards, Henry; Afobe

Head To Head

The last meeting between the two was also at St Andrew's in April and it was Birmingham who fought back from a goal down to win 2-1 as strikes from Rob Kiernan and Demarai Gray ensured the points for the Blues.

Wolves have won only once in their last eight visits to St Andrew's in the league, drawing four and losing three.