Birmingham v Preston Preview

Posted on | April 24, 2009 | No Comments

Birmingham come into this game knowing that a victory will confirm their promotion, with the Blues currently four points ahead of Sheffield United with just two games remaining. Preston on the other hand are fighting a different battle, with the Lilywhites holding slim aspirations of a play off finish although the four point deficit seems a hefty margin to cut in just two fixtures.

At the start of the season, many fans and pundits labelled Birmingham as absolute certainties for promotion. As it’s happened, it’s not quite worked out like that with the Blues struggling for goals and struggling to break teams down on plenty of occasions. However, the only thing that matters is now they sit in 2nd place and look well on course for an automatic return to the top flight. They go into this one knowing that a victory will clinch that return – but they also know that should they fail to win they have a tough trip to Reading to contend with on the last day of the season. With that, there’s plenty of pressure on Alex McLeish’s men here especially as Sheffield United’s goal difference is far superior as well.

Even if Preston fail to make the top six, this season can be described as nothing but successful. Working on a shoestring budget, Alan Irvine has impressed plenty during his first full campaign in management and has completely transformed a team that finished in the bottom half last season. Even though it’s still mathematically possible for the club to reach the play offs that now looks unlikely and with Swansea also competing for the same position, it makes the task a whole lot harder. Still, having thumped Cardiff 6-0 in their last game the Lilywhites will have plenty of confidence and will know if they can win their last two games, they’ll be at least giving themselves every possible chance.

The home side have plenty of good news on the team news front as Lee Carsley and goalkeeper Maik Taylor both come back into the reckoning after completing suspensions. One negative is that David Murphy will miss out through injury, but Alex McLeish has a readymade replacement as Djimi Traore looks set to step in. There’s not much to report for the visitors with Callum Davidson the only concern. The left back has missed recent games through a hamstring injury but Alan Irvine is hopeful he’ll be available for this one.

Birmingham haven’t made a habit out of scoring goals this season, while Preston demonstrated in their last outing that they’re more than capable of finding the net! With Preston coming into this one with so much confidence, we think they could throw a spanner in the works here and come away with a 1-1 draw.

Related posts:

1. Preston v Barnsley Preview
2. Preston v Millwall Preview
3. QPR v Preston Preview
4. Hull v Preston Preview
5. Preston v Barnsley Preview

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