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. He has secured some impressive results including the 2-1 victory against Forest a couple of weeks back. However, he suffered one of his worst days since taking charge on Boxing Day as they suffered a 4-0 defeat at home to Derby County. In comparison, Forest's season has collapsed dramatically since being top for majority of the beginning of the season. Forest haven't recorded a win since their 3-0 win over Wolves at Molineux on the 22nd November. It has been a run of two defeats and three draws. It has been the amount of draws for Forest which have made their league position suffer. They have to start turning those draws into wins in order to push themselves back up the league table. Last time out, they suffered a horrendous 3-0 defeat away to Middlesbrough.
The Forest player's poor body language after losing 3-0 to Middlesbrough on Boxing Day at the Riverside Stadium.
Forest face no new injury concerns ahead of this game with Birmingham. Dexter Blackstock should be back in contention after missing out with a knock on Boxing Day. Henri Lansbury should also be back after suffering from an illness. Jack Hobbs may also return to the squad after returning from a long term injury. Other than that it is only long-term absentees Andy Reid and Chris Cohen who remain unavailable to Stuart Pearce.
My prediction for this game is Nottingham Forest 1-1 Birmingham City. I think Forest will draw again at home as I think they are very low on confidence at this moment in time. I think Birmingham may take the lead in the first half and Forest will just have enough to get back on terms later on in the game. I think Forest badly need a win, so much so that it will put huge pressure on the players which they will not be able to deal with. However, I hope Forest get back to winning ways and turn their season around.
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