Birmingham City are a side on paper who do not deserve to be sitting where they are in the Sky Bet Championship table. Yet fourth from bottom they sit.
It is a lowly position that they have been hovering around in all season, a horrible place to be for any side. Entering the season with hopes of challenging for a play-off place, yet finding themselves fighting relegation is enough to dishearten the sturdiest of sides.
Birmingham have struggled this season, there is little doubt about that from a side that has 10 wins, six draws and 23 losses from 39 games that have delivered just 36 points across a disappointing season. However a recent upturn in fortune and results has seen an improvement.
Successive wins against Ipswich Town (1-0) and Hull City (3-0) have lifted the Blues from the clutching mire of the bottom three. Garry Monk’s Birmingham side sit two points above Barnsley and a slender two points from safety it is. Another three points against a Bolton side just above them in the table would be most beneficial – that is something Monk is urging his side to strive for.
Speaking to the club website, Monk said of the need to link the Ipswich win to the Bolton game, “We knew the possibility of getting out of the bottom three places on Saturday, that was good for the psychological battle. But the work’s still there. We have got a quick turnaround to Bolton, a really important game, as they are all going to be. But if we can keep the same attitude, the understanding and management of the game, you can see the quality we have.”
