Birmingham City will try to keep their unbeaten record in the Championship intact when they host Millwall at St Andrew’s on Saturday afternoon.
The hosts have had a fantastic start to the season, while Millwall have had an erratic start to their second-tier campaign.
Birmingham City preserved their perfect record at St Andrew’s in the Championship last weekend, defeating newly promoted Plymouth Argyle.
The Blues seized the lead early on thanks to Scott Hogan’s first goal of the season, but the Green Army took control of the game and were rewarded when Ryan Hardie equalized after halftime.
For a second game running at St Andrew’s there was an added-time winner for John Eustace‘s men, with new signing Jay Stansfield providing an emphatic volley to snatch all three points.
Currently sitting third in the Championship standings, Birmingham are one of five clubs who are yet to lose a game in the second tier, although Blues did exit the EFL Cup at the hands of Cardiff City on Tuesday night.
Gary Rowett is back at St Andrew’s with a Millwall side who have fallen short of playoff ambitions in the past three seasons, with supporters hoping the 2023-24 can finally be their time to earn a coveted top-six finish.
The Lions ended a run of three straight losses in all competitions by narrowly beating Stoke City at The Den last Saturday, with former Hibernian striker Kevin Nisbet netting the only goal of the game.
Rowett’s men are 11th in the second-tier table, although the West Londoners could go level on points with the top six should things go perfectly for them elsewhere this weekend.
Millwall have a host of ex-Birmingham players within their ranks – the likes of Wes Harding and Matija Sarkic are likely to face their former employers this Saturday.
Team Updates
Birmingham have a host of injury concerns ahead of this weekend, with both Ethan Laird and Siriki Dembele sidelined until after the international break due to muscle strains.
Koji Miyoshi has bagged a goal and an assist in his last two Championship appearances, and the attacker will be tasked with providing for Hogan in attack on Saturday.
Lukas Jutkiewicz will begin his three-match suspension for a red card collected in the EFL Cup loss on Tuesday night, with Eustace deciding against appealing the decision.
Millwall remain without the services of Casper de Norre due to a knock – the midfielder made the switch from Belgian Pro League outfit OH Leuven in July on a permanent deal.
George Honeyman has not featured for the Lions since the loss at his former club Hull City on April 10, and the winger is not expected back in first-team action until the latter stages of September.
Birmingham City possible starting lineup:
Ruddy; Bacuna, Sanderson, Long, Buchanan; Bielik, Sunjic, Anderson, Miyoshi, Stansfield; Hogan
Millwall possible starting lineup:
Sarkic; Leonard, Hutchinson, Cooper; Norton-Cuffy, Mitchell, Saville, Bryan, Flemming; Bradshaw, Nisbet
Birmingham City 0-1 Millwall is our prediction.
Birmingham have done superbly to commence their campaign with 10 points from a possible 12, but we feel that Blues’ luck in terms of last-minute winners is set to run out this weekend.
Millwall will happily concede possession to the hosts at St Andrew’s on Saturday – a tactic which often works well against a Birmingham side who like to hit opponents on the counter-attack.
