Birmingham City vs West Brom: Starting lineups confirmed for heated Championship derby clash

Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion have announced their starting lineups and substitutes ahead of tonight’s West Midlands derby clash in the Sky Bet Championship.

It’s bound to be heated on the field but plenty of the headlines will surround the protests from Blues fans outside the ground ahead of kick-off, with plenty of supporters rallying in anger against their club’s ongoing ownership situation.

For the game itself, it looks as if Birmingham manager John Eustace has decided to revert to a back four, likely with West Brom’s increasing attacking threat in mind. It is a very different Baggies side to when the two sides last faced each other, as Blues won 3-2 at The Hawthorns in September.

Albion, meanwhile, have stuck with the 4-2-3-1 formation we have seen a lot of recently, with new signing Marc Albrighton posing a threat on the right flank. American striker Daryl Dike is the man Carlos Corberan is trusting to lead the line.

Birmingham City vs West Brom starting lineups and substitutes

Birmingham City starting XI vs West Brom: Ruddy (GK); Colin, Sanderson, Long, Trusty; Bielik, Hannibal, Chong, Bacuna; Jutkiewicz, Hogan.

Birmingham City subs vs West Brom: Etheridge (GK), Friend, Dean, James, Gardner, Hall, Deeney.

West Brom starting XI vs Birmingham City: Button (GK); Furlong, O’Shea, Pieters, Townsend; Molumby, Yokuslu; Wallace, Albrighton, Diangana; Dike.

West Brom subs vs Birmingham City: Griffiths (GK), Ajayi, Grant, Swift, Reach, Thomas-Asante, Chalobah.