Birmingham City play host to Exeter City on Saturday afternoon looking to strengthen their position at the top of the League One table.
Meanwhile, Exeter make the trip to the West Midlands looking to avoid defeat having fallen away from playoff contention in recent weeks.
Match preview
© Imago
Having suffered just one defeat in 21 matches, Birmingham City seem well on their way to securing League One promotion and a potential EFL Trophy final at Wembley Stadium.
Although Chris Davies's side have not always been convincing, Blues keep churning out results, and hard-fought victories have been posted over the past week against Lincoln City and Swindon Town to progress in the FA Cup and EFL Trophy.
The league remains the priority, however, and Birmingham ended a run of two successive draws to record a 3-0 victory at Wigan Athletic on January 4.
That success was required to sit two points clear of third-placed Wrexham, while second-placed Wycombe Wanderers are searching for a new head coach.
From Birmingham's point of view, they can only focus on themselves, and the target on Saturday will be extending their unbeaten League One record at home to 12 matches.
© Imago
As far as Exeter are concerned, there is excitement in the FA Cup having recorded a 3-1 victory over Championship side Oxford United last weekend.
Gary Caldwell and his squad will next be welcoming Nottingham Forest to St James Park, a tie that is likely to bring extra revenue through a date on television.
In the short term, though, Caldwell knows that Exeter need a response in third-tier action having accumulated just one point from their last three outings.
After ending 2024 with a 4-4 draw with Crawley Town, 2-1 defeats have since been posted against Wycombe Wanderers and Bolton Wanderers respectively to leave the club 10 points adrift of the playoffs.
Team News
© Imago
Having rotated for the recent cup games, Davies may look to revert back to as much of the starting lineup from the last league win over Wigan as possible.
However, Willum Willumsson is unavailable through injury, while central-midfield duo Tomoki Iwata and Paik Seung-ho are potential absentees.
Marc Leonard, Lyndon Dykes and Ayumu Yokoyama are all in contention to be included in the side, but Keshi Anderson remains sidelined.
With Tristan Crama having been recalled by Brentford, Ed Francis could take his place in the Exeter back three.
That could prove to be the solitary change to the starting lineup as Caldwell looks to build on the win over Oxford.
Birmingham City possible starting lineup:
Allsop; Laird, Klarer, Davies, Cochrane; Leonard, Gardner-Hickman; Harris, Dykes, Yokoyama; May
Exeter City possible starting lineup:
Whitworth; Fitzwater, Yfeko, Francis; McMillan, Richards, Woods, Harper; Mitchell, Watts; Magennis
We say: Birmingham City 2-0 Exeter City
Although Exeter may feel encouraged that Birmingham have not always been convincing of late, we can only see one winner here. The dominant victory over Wigan should stand Blues in good stead and lead to another comfortable win.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Darren Plant
