Preview: Birmingham City vs. Fulham - prediction, team news, lineups

Birmingham City play host to Fulham on Wednesday evening with the opportunity to move ahead of their second-placed opponents in the Championship standings.

Fulham, who have already defeated Blues in the EFL Cup this season, suffered a surprise defeat away at Blackpool at the weekend.

Match preview

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Lee Bowyer has overseen just 18 matches as manager of Birmingham, the most notable coming at the end of last season as the West Midlands outfit avoided relegation to the third tier.

However, Bowyer has already been able to transform the club, ignoring any off-the-field distractions to turn Blues into genuine contenders for promotion.

While it is still early days in the season, a fourth clean sheet during the 2-0 win over Derby County ensured that Birmingham retained the division's best defensive record.

Goals will need to be scored on a more consistent basis, but the presence of Troy Deeney will only motivate the likes of Scott Hogan and Lukas Jutkiewicz.

Despite sitting down in seventh position ahead of this contest, Birmingham are just three points adrift of leaders West Bromwich Albion.

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Fulham would have found themselves sitting at the top of the Championship table had they overcome Blackpool at the weekend.

However, the Cottagers were on the receiving end of arguably the most surprising Championship result of the season, going down by a 1-0 scoreline at Bloomfield Road.

Not only did Fulham see a four-match winning streak come to a shuddering halt, the division's best attack failed to score against the League One playoff winners.

Marco Silva may view the setback as a minor blip, one which occurred on the back of the international break, but the Portuguese will require a much-improved performance from his side if they are to get anything at St Andrew's.

Team News

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After his 22-minute cameo against Derby, Deeney is in line to make his first Birmingham start on Wednesday night.

Jutkiewicz could drop out of the starting lineup in what will likely be the only change.

In sharp contrast, Silva is likely to shake up his Fulham XI, potentially handing recalls to the likes of Harrison Reed and Neeskens Kebano.

Nathaniel Chalobah is also in contention for a first start, but fellow new arrival Domingos Quina may drop down to the substitutes' bench.

While Harry Wilson could return to the squad, Fabio Carvalho may be given more time to recover from an injury sustained before the international break.

Birmingham City possible starting lineup:

Sarkic; Roberts, Dean, Pedersen; Colin, Woods, Sunjic, Bela; Chong, Deeney, Hogan

Fulham possible starting lineup:

Gazzaniga; Odoi, Ream, Adarabioyo, Robinson; Reed, Seri; Decordova-Reid, Kebano, Cavaleiro; Mitrovic

We say: Birmingham City 1-1 Fulham

For the first time this season, Fulham are under a little bit of pressure to perform after the setback in Blackpool.

Nevertheless, this remains a high-quality squad, and we expect the Cottagers to battle their way to a share of the spoils in the West Midlands.