- 1 Birmingham City vs Preston North End: seventh hosts bottom at St Andrew’s
- 2 Birmingham City: unbeaten at home, and a derby win to build on
- 3 Preston North End: four points, 16 conceded, and a new manager still finding his feet
- 4 Free Football Prediction: Birmingham City vs Preston North End
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About visuals
Birmingham City vs Preston North End: seventh hosts bottom at St Andrew’s 
Seventh against 24th. Birmingham City welcome Preston North End to St Andrew’s on Tuesday night, kick-off 21:00 Paris time, and the gap between the two clubs is as wide as it gets in the Championship right now.
Chris Davies’ side have 14 points from nine games and sit just six points behind leaders Swansea City. Preston have four. Nine matches in, they’ve won once and they’re rooted to the foot of the table.
It’s worth putting both seasons in context, though. Birmingham haven’t exactly been ruthless: five of their nine league games have ended in draws. They’re hard to beat rather than hard to stop, and that’s a slightly different profile from a side that blows teams away.
Preston, meanwhile, have a new man in charge. Graham Alexander took over in September, and Saturday’s 1-0 home defeat to Millwall was his first game. One match is no basis to judge a manager, but it didn’t offer any sign of a quick fix.
Then there’s the head-to-head. Birmingham have beaten Preston in each of their last three meetings. Add the home record and the current gap in the table, and the picture starts to look fairly clear.
For Birmingham, this is the kind of game that turns a decent start into a proper push for the top six. Draws against good teams are fine. Wins against struggling ones are what promotion campaigns are built on.
Birmingham City: unbeaten at home, and a derby win to build on 
August Priske’s first-half penalty settled Saturday’s derby at West Bromwich Albion, and it was a big result. West Brom hadn’t lost at The Hawthorns in 11 games before Birmingham turned up.
That’s three league games unbeaten now for the Blues.
The defence deserves a mention as well. A 1-0 win at a ground where the hosts hadn’t lost in 11 is a disciplined, controlled away display, the sort that tells you a side has learned to manage games rather than just play them.
The overall record reads three wins, five draws and one defeat. The only league loss came at Norwich, 2-1. At St Andrew’s, Birmingham haven’t been beaten in the league at all this season, though the draws have piled up: 1-1 with Southampton, 2-2 with Wolves, 2-2 with Middlesbrough. Credit where it’s due, though: those are three of the stronger sides in the division.
Preston aren’t. That’s the shift Tuesday brings. Against opponents who’ve struggled to score and struggled even more to defend, a team that drew with promotion contenders should be able to turn draws into wins.
No changes are expected after the West Brom win. Priske leads the line again, with Jhon Solis and Tomoki Iwata in midfield and Liam Millar and Carlos Vicente on the flanks. Stansfield operates behind the striker. It’s a settled side with a clear identity.
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Preston North End: four points, 16 conceded, and a new manager still finding his feet 
Sixteen goals conceded in nine league games. That’s the first number that jumps out about Preston, and it’s the one Graham Alexander will be most desperate to fix.
The attack hasn’t helped him either. Preston’s last six league games have produced one win, one draw and four defeats: 1-3 against Bristol City, a 2-1 win over Blackburn, 1-2 at Watford, 0-1 against Lincoln City, 2-2 at QPR and Saturday’s 0-1 against Millwall. Six goals in that run, and none in two of the last three.
Saturday stung more than most. Camiel Neghli’s 79th-minute winner for Millwall came at Deepdale, in Alexander’s first game, and left Preston bottom of the table.
That’s a side running short of answers.
Away from Deepdale, the task only gets harder. Preston’s one league win this season came at home against Blackburn, and their trips to Watford and QPR brought a single point between them.
Changes are possible. Pol Valentin could replace Harry Clarke, and Delano Burgzorg may come in for Callum Lang. Alexander’s preferred shape looks like a back three with wing-backs, which demands a lot of energy and organisation. Right now, that organisation doesn’t bear close inspection. Can a new coach fix that in three days, away from home, against a side unbeaten in its own stadium? It’s hard to see it.
Probable lineup Birmingham City: Beadle; Osayi-Samuel, Neumann, Klarer, Cochrane; Iwata, Solis; Vicente, Stansfield, Millar; Priske
Probable lineup Preston North End: Iversen; Offiah, Storey, Hughes; Clarke, Thompson, Leroy, Vukcevic; Devine; Lang, Erabi
Free Football Prediction: Birmingham City vs Preston North End
Our prediction: Birmingham City to win
Birmingham are unbeaten at home in the league, unbeaten in three league games overall, and they’ve beaten Preston in each of the last three meetings. Preston are bottom, have conceded 16 in nine and have lost four of their last six.
The draw is the main risk here, given how often Birmingham have shared the points at St Andrew’s. But those draws came against Southampton, Wolves and Middlesbrough, all three sides expected to be near the top come May. Preston’s attack has scored six in six and failed to find the net in two of the last three. That’s not a side that usually snatches a point at a ground like this.
We’re backing the home win. Bookmaker prices weren’t available at the time of writing, so check the line before kick-off.
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