Birmingham City and West Brom go head-to-head in a sold-out Midlands Derby at St Andrew’s Stadium on Friday night.
More than 20,000 fans will be packed in to the stadium for Friday's clash. An allocation of 2,000 was given to the Baggies, and so a raucous atmosphere is to be expected in front of the Sky Sports television cameras.
Both sides claimed midweek wins - and are hoping to put together a consistent run of form after both endured difficult Septembers. Blues beat Huddersfield Town 4-1 on Tuesday night with the returning Siriki Dembele bagging a brace and earning a man-of-the-match award. Koji Miyoshi and Jordan James were also on target for John Eustace’s side who claimed their first win since late August.
West Brom were also victorious and beat struggling Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 thanks to a 13-minute effort from John Swift. Carlos Corberan’s men hadn’t scored a goal on their travels and in doing so hadn’t won away until last week when they thumped Preston North End 4-0 at Deepdale last week.
A short turn-around of three days, in which Wednesday is probably acting as a recovery day with minimal training, means there isn’t much time for players who are nursing any knocks or niggles to recover. Both managers have had to deal with various injuries to their squad both short-term and long-term.
Flick through the pages to see who’s set to miss the Midlands Derby between the two teams, including someone who’s had the honour of playing for both sides.
9. Adam Reach - out
Suffered a quad injury in pre-season and is now until the New Year. | AFP via Getty Images Photo: OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)
10. Lee Buchanan - out
Buchanan is out for a ‘number of weeks’ after injuring his ankle in training. He is expected to be out until at least after the international break. | Getty Images Photo: Getty Images
11. Martin Kelly - out
Kelly’s not appeared for West Brom this season, and there is an unspecified time frame as to when he will return. | Getty Images Photo: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)