Derby County vs. Birmingham City - A Close Match on the Cards

Birmingham City will go against rivals Derby County in the Championship this weekend on January 30. The match will be held at Pride Park and kick off in the afternoon after 1 PM. The Derby County vs. Birmingham City match will be shown live on Sky Sports Main Event, with the coverage starting half an hour before the due start time of the match. Birmingham City will travel to Derby County following their rearranged schedule against Peterborough United. Derby County will be seeking to get back from their close loss against arch-rivals Nottingham Forest a few days ago. Let us dive into the Derby County vs. Birmingham City predictions and other facts in this article.

Derby County vs. Birmingham City Prediction: It is Going to be Close

Derby County faces the tough challenge of getting back from giving away their five-match undefeated streak under Rooney. There have been many positives from winning more than nine points from their previous six outings. But it has not been sufficient to keep the football club out of the bottom section. A match against Birmingham is a good chance to get back on track again. But Rooney will accept that getting another successive loss will be a great blow. But Derby has been quite good playing away from home in recent times. The England great may feel comfy in reverting back to the mindset that led to good outcomes against their matches at Brentford and Millwall. Birmingham manager Aitor Karanka has been under some pressure to play with a more attacking intent because his squad continues to search for goals in this tier. There have been some wins recently at Reading and Bristol City.

But a winless streak has put the manager in a position where he will have a few doubts about the change in the mentality of the players in the team. A blank draw against Nottingham Forest in the Boxing Day match was a step in the correct direction. But the team from West Midlands only remain some points above the relegation zone. Coming on top of Derby would ease fears of getting into a tussle at the end of the table. But the manager will feel that preventing a loss against an opponent should be on the top of his list of concerns at the present moment.

Derby County vs. Birmingham City Team News

Karanka will not make any major changes to his Birmingham side which started the match at the City Ground. Rooney has a team that has had a busy schedule for the past few weeks. So, he will probably freshen up his team with the introduction of Max Bird and Duane Holmes. The possible starting line-up of Birmingham City is Hogan, Bela, Jutkiewicz, Chong, Woods, Friend, Sanchez, Roberts, Colin, Pederson, and Etheridge. The possible starting line-up of Derby County is Jozwiak, Kazim-Richards, Lawrence, Sibley, Bielik, Bird, Morrison, Stearman, Forsyth, Byrne, and Roos.

Derby County vs. Birmingham City Previous Match

In the previous Derby County vs. Birmingham City match, Jeremie Bela and Scott Hogan assisted Birmingham City to defeat Derby County and move up to the top five in the Championship. Hogan got another goal this season from close range in the opening half before Bela sealed the victory later in the match. Derby had greater possession. But apart from an effort from Tom Lawrence in the second half, they did not create many chances in the match and went down to the bottom five of the league. Troy Deeney also made his debut for the Birmingham side as a substitute in the second half. All the attention before the match was focused on him. He had joined the team that he supported as a boy. The transfer took place just before the end of the summer transfer window to finish his decade-long association with Watford. But the player could not find a place in the starting line-up and was only a substitute.

This was because the manager Lee Bowyer went for the tried and tested options of Hogan and Lukas Jutkiewicz up front. The former Aston Villa and Brentford player put his team ahead in the Derby County vs. Birmingham City match. He was initially prevented from scoring a goal by the goalkeeper Kelle Roos. But the ball was worked to Hogan, who did not commit any error from such close range. That played perfectly in the hands of the team, and another goal from a counter-attack wrapped things up for the team. Football great and Derby County manager Wayne Rooney said, "We played some OK stuff, but we didn't really create that many clear-cut chances, which was frustrating, but I don't think Birmingham did enough to win the game. It was a mistake for the first and second goals, but we weren't at our best tonight. We didn't deserve to win, but I still feel Birmingham didn't do enough. There are going to be mistakes the way we're trying to play, and I take full responsibility for that."

Birmingham City manager Lee Bowyer said, "It was very satisfying to get our first three points at home in front of the fans. A clean sheet, we created chances, and we worked extremely hard as a group, so it was very pleasing. Because of the players we have in the attacking third, if we keep clean sheets, we will win a lot of games. I can say well done to the players for that because it isn't just the defenders and the goalkeeper. It's the whole team. There are going to be lows, but we can enjoy tonight. And all we can do as a club is keep trying to build and move forward, and that's what we're doing."

Derby County vs. Birmingham City: Head-to-Head