Birmingham City have had a turbulent couple of years since their relegation from the Premier League and winning the Capital One Cup in dramatic style against Arsenal. They managed to survive from relegation in the last minute of last season as Paul Caddis scored against Bolton Wanderers to secure their survival in the Championship. Birmingham started this season in the same terrible form which they had throughout majority of last season. They suffered an embarrassing 8-0 defeat to Bournemouth at St Andrews on the 25th October. However, since there has been a revolution at Birmingham. Manager Lee Clark was sent on his way after that defeat and was replaced with well respected Burton Albion manager Gary Rowett. Since this appointment, Birmingham have looked a completely different side and Rowett is unbeaten in his four games he has been in charge so far. He has achieved two draws and two wins so far in charge and they look a lot more solid than the team which let in eight goals against Bournemouth only a month ago. Huge respect has to go to Gary Rowett for what he has done in such a small space of time. Birmingham's most recent success came last weekend at Rotherham as they won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Clayton Donaldson. In comparison, Forest are in a similar position of recently coming back into form after a bad run of results. Forest have now won their last two games after going on a run of ten games without three points. There is a lot more happiness back around the club after the recent victories which is passing onto the players who look like they have got their confidence back. Last weekend was one of Forest's best performances of the season as they came out 3-0 winners against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux. If Forest manage to replicate this performance at St Andrews on Saturday then Birmingham will be in for one hell of a game.
Birmingham have gone through somewhat of a revolution since Gary Rowett has taken charge as they have gone on a four game unbeaten run.
Forest didn't gain any new injury problems from their trip to Molineux. A few players managed to return from injury for Wolves such as Kelvin Wilson and Danny Fox. Danny Fox managed to come through unscathed and put in a very good performance. Matty Fryatt also showed what a good player he is and how vital it is that he stays away from injury for Forest. I can't imagine Pearce will make too many changes to the team this weekend after what was a 'perfect' away performance at Wolves last weekend. However, long-term injuries to Jack Hobbs, Chris Cohen and Andy Reid make them still unavailable for selection but they are apparently making good progress.
My prediction for this game is Birmingham City 0-2 Nottingham Forest. I do think that it will be a tougher game than it was at Wolves due to the new manager factor at Birmingham at the moment. I think the first goal will be vitally important. If Forest get it, their quality should then shine through and they should be able to utilize their pace on the counter attack. Forest should on paper win this game as the quality of their side is significantly better than Birmingham. However, this is the Championship where anybody can beat anybody which is what makes it so interesting. I hope Forest can get their third win in a row which should be enough to push them back into the playoff places.
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