Looking to return to the summit of the third-tier standings, Birmingham City will welcome Northampton Town to St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park for a League One clash on Saturday afternoon.
Blues booked their spot in the second round of the FA Cup at Sutton United last weekend, whilst the Cobblers were one of the major casualties of the first round.
Match preview
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After a frustrating share of the spoils with Mansfield Town in League One on October 26, Birmingham City have made progress in a pair of cup competitions over the past 10 days, smashing Fulham Under-21s 7-1 in the EFL Trophy before squeezing past Sutton in the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon.
In front of the TV cameras, Blues were unsurprisingly dominant against their National League opponents but could only muster up a single goal for the Bluenoses in attendance, with Iceland international Willum Willumsson finding the net in the first half to set up a second-round tie at Blackpool in December.
Whilst Birmingham have been occupied with cup action, Wycombe have stolen a march on the title favourites in the League One table, with the Chairboys moving ahead of the Second City club into top spot following a five-goal thrashing of newly-promoted Stockport County earlier in the week.
That being said, Chris Davies's troops are still four points ahead of third-placed Wrexham with a game in hand, meaning that the possibility of the West Midlands giants failing to secure an immediate return to the Championship is not a serious worry at this stage.
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For only the third time in their history, Northampton Town pitted their wits in a competitive match against local rivals Kettering Town last weekend in the FA Cup, with the non-league side producing one of the biggest upsets of the first round to knock the third-tier hosts out of the competition.
Since that humiliating defeat to Nile Ranger and company last Sunday, the Cobblers have returned to winning ways courtesy of an EFL Trophy success over Leicester City Under-21s on Tuesday night at Sixfields Stadium, where a brace from Neo Dobson secured the Southern Group F points in the second half.
Focusing on third-tier matters, it appears as if Northampton have a major job on their hands to extend their stay at this level into a third year, with Jon Brady's men currently occupying 18th in the League One standings, just four points above Crawley Town in the highest of the relegation spots.
The travelling Cobblers contingent at St Andrew's on Saturday afternoon will not be expecting much from their men considering that they have won just one of their first six League One away contests this season, with only basement dwellers Burton Albion (0) winning fewer to date.
Team News
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Birmingham have received a major fitness boost ahead of Saturday's battle, with captain Krystian Bielik enjoying a full week of training following an ankle injury.
As a result, head coach Davies has to decide whether to bring the Pole straight back into the XI or to stick with Ben Davies alongside Christoph Klarer.
Blues are short of options on the flanks due to the absences of Scott Wright and Emil Hansson, who have been ruled out until after November's international break.
On loan from Birmingham for the 2024-25 campaign, former Leeds United man Tyler Roberts is ineligible for Northampton this weekend.
After sitting out of the FA Cup defeat to Kettering last Sunday, first-choice Lee Burge should replace Nikola Tzanev in between the sticks for this one.
Birmingham City possible starting lineup:
Allsopp; Laird, Klarer, Davies, Cochrane; Paik, Iwata, Willumsson, May, Anderson; Stansfield
Northampton Town possible starting lineup:
Burge; Odimayo, Baldwin, Guthrie, Guinness-Walker; Hondermarck, Chouchane, Pinnock, McGeehan, Fosu; Dobson
We say: Birmingham City 2-0 Northampton Town
Back in League One action for the first time in two weeks, Birmingham will be raring to produce a statement performance and regain control at the top of the table.
Low on confidence following the FA Cup defeat to Kettering, we are expecting Northampton to cause the hosts little problems in the Second City this weekend.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Carter White
