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

Continuing their preparations for the new League Two campaign, Northampton Town welcome Championship outfit Birmingham City to Sixfields Stadium for a pre-season contest on Saturday afternoon.

The Cobblers enjoyed a three-goal success at the home of a non-league side earlier in the week, whilst Blues managed to maintain their positive start to this summer with victory at Burton Albion.

Match preview

Following a three-year stint in the third tier of English football, Northampton Town are gearing up for League Two duties this season after placing rock bottom of League One in 2025-26, a mammoth 17 points behind Leyton Orient in the safety of 20th spot.

The Cobblers' cruel campaign ended in horrible fashion, with Saturday's hosts enduring an 11-match losing streak in the league, with their last competitive triumph arriving at AFC Wimbledon on February 10.

Northampton lost five consecutive League One matches at Sixfields to conclude a woeful 2025-26 term, with only fellow relegated side Port Vale (21) collecting fewer than the Cobblers' 22 home points in the third tier.

After spells in charge of Newcastle United Under-21s and Bristol City, Chris Hogg is tasked with creating a winning mentality at the East Midlands club, who picked up a 3-1 victory at Southend United on Wednesday night.

On top of that, the Cobblers held Premier League new boys Coventry City to a goalless draw at Sixfields last Saturday afternoon, and defeated this weekend's visitors Birmingham 3-0 on home soil during the pre-season of 2025.

Discounting the 2-1 defeat to Portuguese giants Porto in a behind-closed-doors fixture last weekend, Birmingham have enjoyed a flawless start to pre-season in front of their Bluenose faithful, picking up wins over Huddersfield Town, Solihull Moors and Burton Albion.

The annual trip to the Pirelli Stadium was on the cards for Blues on Wednesday night, when August Priske netted his third goal of the summer to secure some minor Midlands bragging rights for the visitors.

Head coach Chris Davies opted to field separate XIs in each half at the base of the Brewers, however, Birmingham are set to give the large majority of their squad 90 minutes on Saturday, with another group travelling to face Crewe Alexandra at the same time.

Blues are likely to split their senior professionals fairly evenly across the two fixtures, but expect Danish marksman Priske, Spanish winger Carlos Vicente and midfielder Jhon Solis to be on the pitch together.

After humble trips to Sixfields and Mornflake Stadium this weekend, Birmingham will turn their attentions towards a seismic occasion at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park, where Hansi Flick's Barcelona are the high-profile visitors on July 31.

Northampton Town friendly form:

L D W

Birmingham City friendly form:

W W L W

Team News

On loan at Sixfields Stadium from Lincoln City, Northampton shot-stopper Zach Jeacock is set to face his former employers this weekend.

Club legend and goalscorer against Birmingham last summer, Sam Hoskins will be looking for his 105th Cobblers goal on Saturday.

Only returning to training at the start of this weekend following his involvement in the World Cup, Birmingham's South Korean star Paik Seung-Ho is unlikely to feature.

Recovering from a pre-season injury concern, right-back Ethan Laird will not play a part at either Northampton or Crewe.

In the continued absence of Marvin Ducksch due to an apparent injury, Kanya Fujimoto is staking his claim for a place in Davies's plans this season.

Northampton Town possible starting lineup:

Jeacock; Moore, Guthrie, Maxell; Wormleighton, Campbell, Fornah, Briggs; List, Hoskins, Saunders

Birmingham City possible starting lineup:

Mayo; Osayi-Samuel, Burrell, Buchanan, Bamba; Iwata, Maddox, Roberts, Gray, Bateman; Stansfield