Premier League Match Time: Aston Villa Vs Birmingham

Birmingham City will visit Villa Park for a lunch-time derby against Aston Villa, on Sunday, in match week 10 of the Premier League.

Aston Villa have dominated matches in the middle of these sides, recently, and have won six in a row. Birmingham will seek to end that streak in Sunday's derby against the Villans. And the Blues will look to Liam Ridgewell to contribute the spark against his previous club. Birmingham will also look to their big striker Hikola Zigic to stand up to be counted. Zigic, alongwith Ridewell, was one of the goal scorers in the 2-0 win over Blackpool last week.

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Villa are advent off a 1-0 loss suffered against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light last week, and they will seek atonement against the Blues. Houllier will be keen to stamp his personality on the fortunes of the squad that is still emerging from Martin O'Neill's shadow.

Premier League Match Time: Aston Villa Vs Birmingham

Last season Birmngham concluded ninth on the league table, and they haven't yet lived up to that promise, this season. This could be because of tactiacl errors by team manger McLeish. Equally, the Blues haven't been helped by the fact that summer signings like Hleb and Zigic are yet to gel with the team.

Birmingham are pre-dominantly defensive and Villa will have their task cut out in trying to break down City's back-line, where Scott Dann and Roger Johnson have shone in tandem; goalkeeper look after has also played his part..

That said, full-backs Stephen Carr and Liam Ridgewell will need to stay busy to stave off flank attacks by Villa's Ashley Young and Stewart Downing.

Perhaps the biggest threat to the Blues' goal will come from old warhorse Heskey, who has already netted four times for Houllier's squad this season.

Ahead of Sunday's game, three Villa players are on the injury list. They are Agbonlahor, L Young and Delph. City have their own injury worries with McFadden and Beausejour sidelined. Those apart, Gardner is serving a one-match suspension after receiving a second yellow card in the last match.

Aston Villa fielded the following eleven players in their game against Sunderland in match week nine: Friedel, Beye, Collins, Dunne, Warnock, Downing, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Young, Ireland, Heskey.

The substitutes were: Albrighton, Clark, Guzan, Bannan, Sidwell, Carew, Cuellar.

The following players were in the beginning eleven for Birmingham in their game with Blackpool: Foster, Carr, Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Larsson, Ferguson, Hleb, Fahey, O'Connor, Zigic.

The substitutes were: Derbyshire, Murphy, Michel, Taylor, Phillips, Bowyer, Jiranek.

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Premier League Preview - Birmingham Vs Liverpool

Birmingham City are scheduled to host Liverpool at their traditional venue of St Andrews in the Premier League, in an afternoon kick-off, on Sunday.

In their debut season, last year, Birmingham did brilliantly, finishing at 9th on the points table. Ordinarily, there would be anticipation of the second season syndrome kicking in. But the Blues' early form has belied any such fear.

Having recorded identical 2-2 draws against Sunderland and Bolton, and a 2-1 win over Blackburn have ensured that there has not been any sign of that happening, so far, in three games played.

Stuart Parnaby's hamstring injury worry is likely to prompt team manager Alex McLeish to subject the right back to a late test. Sebastian Larsson who hurt his knee in the Bolton game is certain to miss out.

The Blues have an excellent record at home. They have not lost a match at St Andrews' in their last 16 games here. Against Liverpool, head to head, in 49 home games, Birmingham have won 21 and lost 15, with the remaining 13 ending without result.

The last time Liverpool beat Birmingham here was in 2006, in the FA Cup, when they delivered a 7-0 walloping. That said, the last Premier League loss at home for Birmingham came still farther back, in 2004.

Liverpool haven't had a dream start to their campaign. Once giants of English football, Liverpool's 1-1 draw at home against Arsenal was far from convincing. They went a step or three worse losing to Man City, in the Eastlands, before managing to salvage some pride in a home win of 1-0 against West Brom.

In fact, the game against the Baggies was hard won, with the Hawthorns side the more proactive on the pitch, on the day.

Dirk Kuyt's shoulder and N'gog's Hamstring are likely to keep them out of Liverpool's starting eleven, against the Blues. Joe Cole will also be missing, with this game the last of the three match suspension awarded with the first ever red card of his career.

Left-back Paul Konchesky, a deadline day import from Fulham, and midfielder Paul Meireles, are both likely to begin their campaigns with the Reds.

Gerrard has a penchant for scoring against the Blues, with six goals to show for nine appearances against them.

Birmingham's likely starting eleven could comprise: Foster, Johnson, Ridgewell, Carr, Dann, Gardner, Bowyer, Larsson, Fergusson, Jerome, McFadden

Liverpool's likely starting eleven should include: Reina, Skrtel, Johnson, Konchesky, Carragher, Meireles, Poulsen, Gerrard, Maxi, Torres, Jovanovic.

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Premier League Preview - Birmingham Vs Wigan

Birmingham City are set to host Wigan Athletic at St Andrews, on Saturday afternoon.

On Alex McLeish's watch, Birmingham have had successive good seasons. And barring an unexpected loss to West Brom, they have had a reasonable start to the current season under Roberto Di Matteo's helm.

Both teams are coming off mid-week wins in the Carling Cup. Birmingham had a 3-1 scoreline in their favour against MK Dons, while Wigan prevailed 2-1 over Preston.

But the mid-week matches could leave both teams jaded with Birmingham getting an additional day of rest.

Birmingham should view their Carling Cup win as some consolation for the West Brom loss, and should have bossted their morale ahead of their home match against the Latics.

Birmingham have had a 17-match unbeaten streak at St Andrews, including matches against the likes of Manchester united, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. They will be hoping to make it 18, on Saturday.

In their two home matches in the ongoing season, Birmingham came from behind to beat Blackburn, while Pepe Reina between the sticks ensured that the Blues had to remain content with a draw in the game against Liverpool.

In their away loss to West Brom, Birmingham were actually 1-0 up, before conceding the three goals that led to the final 3-1 score. In another Premier League away game, Birmingham visited the Reebok Stadium, and took a 2-0 lead over Bolton before frittering away the advantage; that game eneded in a draw.

Wigan's premiership campaign has been relatvely inconsistent. After losses in their first two games, Wigan steadied their ship with a 1-0 win against Tottenham followed by a 1-1 draw aaisnt Sunderland.

Last week, they were back to losing, this time against Man City. Curiously, Wigan have done well in their away match at White Hart Lane, and that should put Birmingham on their guard.

However, last season's match at St Andrews went the Birmingham way with the hosts prevailing 1-0. In fact, Wigan's away record was bad, and the Tottenham match was preceded by a six away-match losing streak.

Wigan beat Bolton and Everton in back to back matches in the 2006-07 season, and they have never had back to back wins since. That is another stat that should cheer Birmingham up ahead of the Latics game.

Wigan's real weakness is in defence, and they have conceded goals owing to poor defending and marking rather than any credit accruing to rivals' attacking skills.

Given these facts, I am inclined to giving the edge in this match, however slight, to Birmingham.

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Why Birmingham City is Doing So Well This Season

Birmingham City is one of the best supported and most historic clubs in the whole of England (they were bound to have a huge support since they are based in England's 'second capital'). Despite all of this, they have never been a dominant force in the top flight of football (at least in the last 20 years, and since the Premier League was designed in the 1990's).

However, it seems that times may be changing and that Birmingham City is once again on the rise under the experienced management of Alex McLeish. Under McLeish, Birmingham hasrisen to 8th place in the Premier League table at around the half-way point in the season. This is some achievement for a newly promoted club, and the good times show no signs of stopping. Since the takeover in the summer the club have seen some new ultra-rich investors come in. These new owners have promised McLeish a large transfer kitty to help try and consolidate Birmingham's place in the top flight of English football once more.

But it is not just these owners that have once again brought good times to the club; McLeish has made some shrewd signings, and none more-so than the loaning of 22 year old English goalkeeper Joe Hart from Manchester City. Hart is one of England's brightest goalkeeping prospects, and this season he has really flourished after being given a strong run in the first team. Joe Hart has been the backbone of Birmingham's solid defence (which is the second best in the whole league), and now that this is coupled with the pace and power of Christian Benitez up front, it seems that fans in the midlands have a lot to be happy about.

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