An expectant home crowd will welcome Wayne Rooney for the first time as Birmingham City host Hull City in a tasty-looking clash on Wednesday night in the Championship.
The Blues commenced their campaign following the October international break with a narrow loss at Middlesbrough, whereas Hull's home struggles continued against recently-relegated Southampton on the weekend.
Match preview
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Brought into the club to install a winning mentality and 'no fear' playing style, Rooney was on the losing side during his first match in charge of Birmingham, with a late Morgan Rodgers goal securing another maximum for Michael Carrick's in-form Boro side who were deserving of their success.
Blues looked to press at the right moments at the Riverside Stadium with a narrow front three of Scott Hogan, Siriki Dembele and Jay Stansfield, but last season's playoff semi-finalists were able to play through quite easily, with the visitors significantly more permeable than under the pragmatic management of John Eustace.
After collecting just four points from six away matches so far this term, Birmingham will be delighted to be back at their St Andrew's home, where the Second City club are unbeaten in six contests, with only high-flyers Leicester City and Ipswich Town having earned more points in front of their home faithful.
With a host of teams making up the middle pack of the division losing on the weekend, Birmingham only dropped down to seventh place in the second-tier standings following defeat at Boro last time out, but Blues are now just three points ahead of 17th-placed Swansea City.
The upcoming quartet of fixtures appears to be very challenging for Wednesday's hosts as they attempt to keep up their early-season momentum while shifting to Rooney's possession-based ideology, with clashes against Hull, Southampton, Ipswich and Sunderland to come before the final international pause of the calendar year.
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Hull extended their winless run in the Championship to four matches on Saturday afternoon, when Russell Martin's promotion-tipped Southampton side ran out as narrow 2-1 winners at the MKM Stadium - a venue at which the hosts have won just once in six games so far in 2023-24.
William Smallbone put the visiting Saints in the lead after 20 minutes before Liam Delap bagged his third of the campaign to level the contest, and it looked as if the points would be shared between the two sides until Ryan Fraser netted a dramatic 95th-minute winner for the South Coast club.
Following an influx of exciting summer signings such as Scott Twine, Aaron Connolly and Jaden Philogene-Bidace, there was a growing expectation that the Tigers should be serious contenders for a top-sixth berth this season, but a spell of one win in their last seven leaves the Humberside club 12th in the Championship table.
Despite grumbles from sections of the support, there must be a realisation that Liam Rosenior is transforming Hull after inheriting one of the division poorest outfits from former interim boss Andy Dawson this time last year, when leaking three or four goals in a match was not out of the ordinary for the Tigers.
Team News
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Birmingham's new tactics asked an awful lot of full-back duo Emmanuel Longelo and Cody Drameh on Saturday afternoon, and with both Lee Buchanan and Ethan Laird sidelined due to injury, the same pairing will go again on Wednesday night.
A surprise omission from Rooney's first starting XI was Japanese playmaker Koji Miyoshi, and it is possible that the former Royal Antwerp man will play alongside Krystian Bielik and Ivan Sunjic in the engine room at St Andrew's.
A centre-back partnership of Kevin Long and Dion Sanderson did not look particularly comfortable playing out from the back on Teesside last time out, meaning there could be a full debut for Austrian defender Emanuel Aiwu.
After another concerning defensive display, there could be some changes in the Hull backline on Wednesday, with former Wolverhampton Wanderers full-back Ruben Vinagre potentially dropping to the bench.
Versatile defender Lewie Coyle would be the most likely candidate to replace Vinagre for the visitors, although Irishman James Furlong is pushing for a first appearance since moving on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion.
Ozan Tufan was a shining light for the Tigers last season, but the Turkish midfielder is currently being kept out of the side by the likes of Twine and Tyler Morton.
Birmingham City possible starting lineup:
Ruddy; Drameh, Sanderson, Long, Longelo; Bielik, Sunjic, James; Miyoshi, Dembele, Stansfield
Hull City possible starting lineup:
Allsopp; Christie, Jones, Greaves, Coyle: Seri, Morton, Eyenga-Lokilo, Twine, Philogene-Bidace; Delap
We say: Birmingham City 2-2 Hull City
Birmingham might be one of the division's great entertainers for the rest of the campaign as Rooney attempts to implement an attractive style of play, but that may not immediately translate to points for the Blues.
Hull will be happy to have a chance to put Saturday's disappointment behind them quickly, and we are backing the Tigers to earn a draw at St Andrew's in this one.
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Top tip
Carter White
