6th meets 19th at St Andrews in what is both sides tenth league fixture of the season.
Team news:
Birmingham-
Forward, Clayton Donaldson may return for The Blues after missing their 1-1 draw against QPR on Saturday, after missing the QPR game at the weekend through an Achilles injury.
Gary Rowett will hope to have midfielder, Robert Tesche, and goalkeeper, Thomaz Kuszczak available soon following their respective injuries. This particular fixture and Saturday’s game against Blackburn is likely to fall too soon, however.
Diego Fabbrini will be assessed beforehand to see whether the back problem that kept him out of the QPR trip, has eased slightly.
Preston North End-
Although unavailable for this game, Preston forward, Jermaine Beckford, is edging closer to the first team squad after a long battle with a hamstring problem. Marnick Vermijl is also out with the same injury problem.
Forward Simon Makienok is expected to start once again, following his hat-trick against Bournemouth, in the cup, last week.
The form guides:
The Blues, go into this fixture unbeaten in their last five league outings.
Their recent form has been enough to see them climb into the early season play-off places, level on points with fifth place and league favourites, Newcastle United.
They have, however, failed to keep a clean sheet in their last ten home matches against The Lilywhites, stretching back to 1970.
Preston have currently found some form and won their last two games in all competitions, including Fridays 1-0 victory over bottom of the table, Wigan Athletic. They currently sit eighteenth after the first nine.
They have failed to score in three of their last four away games. QPR the exception.
Prediction:
Birmingham City 2-0 Preston North End.
