Preview: Birmingham City vs Brentford - prediction, team news, lineups

Keith Andrews and his Brentford side will travel from the capital to the second city on Tuesday night to take on Birmingham City in the second round of the EFL Cup.

The Blues advanced with a 1-0 victory over Swansea City in South Wales in the opening round, while Brentford enter the competition at this stage due to their Premier League status allowing them miss the first stage.

Match preview

After finishing 10th in their first season back in the Championship, Chris Davies and his Birmingham City side will be hoping to build on that campaign and mount a push for promotion this time around.

Promotion would see the Blues return to the Premier League for the first time since their relegation at the end of the 2010-11 campaign, the same season in which they famously lifted the League Cup after beating Arsenal at Wembley.

However, with 44 league matches still to play, Birmingham are still searching for their first Championship victory of the season, although they remain unbeaten after drawing with Sheffield United and Bristol City.

Davies' side needed a stoppage-time penalty from Demarai Gray to rescue a point against Bristol City, highlighting that there is still plenty of room for improvement despite their unbeaten start.

Birmingham will now turn their attention to the EFL Cup, where a narrow 1-0 victory over Swansea secured their place in the second round and set up a meeting with Brentford for the first time since 2021.

As for Brentford, they head into their second game of the season after opening their Premier League campaign with a thrilling 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

The Bees raced into a two-goal lead before half-time through Keane Lewis-Potter and Vitaly Janelt, before Michael Kayode added a third shortly after the interval to complete a statement victory.

That result highlighted Brentford's quality and could give them hopes of challenging for the European places this season, having narrowly missed out on a potential route into Europe on the final day of last season against Liverpool, where European qualification would allow them to bypass this round of the EFL Cup.

Should the Bees qualify for Europe, they will need to improve their record in front of goal, with only two teams in the top half scoring fewer than their 52 goals last season, with Andrews' side ultimately missed out on the Conference League by just a few goals, with Brighton claiming the final European place.

The London side will now switch their attention to the League Cup, a competition in which they reached the quarter-finals last season before losing to eventual winners Manchester City.

Brentford are unbeaten in their last six meetings with Birmingham, although the most recent encounter came five years ago during the Bees' promotion-winning Championship campaign.

Birmingham City EFL Cup form:

Birmingham City form (all competitions):

Brentford form (all competitions):

Team News

Birmingham appeared to come through their 2-2 draw with Bristol City without any fresh injury concerns, although Davies is likely to continue monitoring Marc Leonard as he recovers from the hamstring injury that has kept him out since May.

With a busy Championship schedule to contend with, the Blues could rotate their side to keep key players fresh, with Jay Stansfield and Gray among those who could be rested for Tuesday's cup tie.

Brentford have only played once this season but could also make changes against lower-league opposition, with all three goalscorers from Saturday's win potentially dropping to the bench.

Irish international Caoimhin Kelleher could make way for Hakon Valdimarsson in goal, while Jaidon Anthony may be handed his first start since joining from Burnley and Calum Wilson is another option to lead the line.

The Bees' only injury concerns are Sepp van den Berg and Antoni Milambo, with both players expected to remain sidelined for some time.

Birmingham City possible starting lineup:

Beadle; Laird, Neumann, Klarer, Cochrane; Iwata, Solis; Vicente, Seung-Ho, Roberts; Priske

Brentford possible starting lineup:

Valdimarsson; Hickey, Ajer, Collins, Henry; Janelt, Yarmoliuk; Anthony, Jensen, Schade; Wilson

We say: Birmingham City 1-3 Brentford

Brentford's Premier League quality should ultimately prove the difference, with Andrews' side expected to show why they are favourites to progress despite Birmingham's unbeaten start.

The Blues have won just one of their three matches this season and could see their EFL Cup run come to an end at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park on Tuesday night.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.