The Sky Blues face Birmingham City on Tuesday as the sides will do battle for a place in the Emirates FA Cup fifth round after the first clash ended goalless. Here is all you need to know about Pep Clotet’s side.
Fact file
Name: Birmingham City Football Club
Founded: 1875
Stadium: St Andrew’s Trillion Trophy Stadium
Capacity: 29,409
Nickname: Blues
Address: Cattell Road, Birmingham, B9 4RL
Pitch Size: 109 x 72 yards.
The Opposition:
Birmingham currently sit seventeenth in the Sky Bet Championship having won ten games, drawing seven and loosing thirteen, accumulating 37 points. The Blues sit eight points above the drop zone and will be hoping to avoid being pulled into a relegation battle and will be buoyed by their recent form as they are unbeaten in their last six games in all competitions.
Teenager Jude Bellingham has caught the eye of the footballing world with some excellent performances throughout the season and the 16-year-old has helped to fill the void left by Che Adams who scored 22 goals last season before joining Southampton.
Experienced striker Lukas Jutkiewicz will be hoping to get one over on his former team and fire Birmingham into the fifth round of the competition for the first time since the 2011/12 season. Birmingham have also bolstered their attacking options after signing forward Scott Hogan in January.
Manager
Pep Clotet was first appointed caretaker manager of the club after serving as Gary Monk’s assistant during the 2018/19 season and was appointed permeant head coach in December, six months after he was appointed as caretaker boss. Clotet is the first ever Birmingham City employee to take the title of head coach.
Barcelona born Clotet began his coaching career in his native Spain taking up roles with Cornella, Espanyol and Figueres before joining Swedish side Malmo as assistant. Clotet’s first taste of English football came at Swansea as he was part of Michael Laudrup’s coaching staff in Wales. Clotet continued to work under new Swansea manager Gary Monk before following Monk to Leeds.
Clotet got his first crack at management with Oxford United but failed to make a huge impact with the club and was relieved of his duties after just 36 games. The Spaniard then joined up with Monk again at St Andrews and became caretaker manager after Monks sacking.
Last Six Games:
Won- Birmingham 2-1 Blackburn (Emirates FA Cup)
Won- Luton 1-2 Birmingham
Drew- Birmingham 1-1 Cardiff
Drew- Middlesbrough 1-1 Birmingham
Drew- Sky Blues 0-0 Birmingham
Won- Birmingham 2-1 Nottingham Forest
Last Time We Met
The two sides met just ten days ago as they played out a goalless draw in a unique fixture at St Andrews as the Sky Blues were the ‘home’ team at Birmingham’s own home ground. In a game in front of a 21,000 strong crowd both teams had few clear-cut chances in the first half as Birmingham saw more of the ball.
In the second half Mark Robins introduced Max Biamou and Callum O’Hare who both had chances to win the game for City as Biamou forced an excellent save from Birmingham stopper Lee Camp before Callum O’Hare couldn’t quite get on the end of Amadou Bakayoko’s header sending the tie into the replay.
Head to Head
Coventry wins- 17
Draws- 16
Birmingham wins- 23
Club connections
Stern John
Stern John was born in Trinidad and Tobago and later moved to the States to pursue his footballing carer and joined Colombus Crew of the MLS where he led the side to the title scoring 26 goals in the process.
John joined Nottingham Forest in 199 for a fee of 1.5 million pounds but financial difficulties and a failed promotion bid meant Forest had to sell the forward for just 100,000 to Birmingham. Despite not being an ever present in the side, John was renowned for scoring ‘big’ goals such as a last-minute strike at Millwall to send Birmingham to the play off final in 2002. John eventually fell out of favour and joined the Sky Blues in 2004.
Again, John found a regular starting spot hard to come by but managed 29 goals in 88 games and appeared in the World Cup Finals in 2006 for Trinidad and Tobago during his time as a Sky Blues player. He left the club in January 2007, joining Sunderland for an undisclosed fee.
Scott Dann
Central defender Scott Dann began his career with Walsall and impressed over the seasons leading Walsall to the League Two title earing himself a new contract to ward off interest from other clubs. His form was as equally as impressive in League One which saw him earn a move to the Sky Blues in January 2008 for an undisclosed fee.
In his 18 months with the Sky Blues Dann continued to catch the eye with impressive performances and was called up to the England U21 squad. The defender made nearly made 50 appearances in less than two seasons before joining Birmingham for a reported 4 million pounds.
Since the move Dann has accumulated masses of Premier League appearances and continues to feature for Crystal Palace.
Officials
Darren Bond will be the man in the middle for Tuesday's clash. So far this season, Bond has officiated in: 19 Championship games, two Carabao Cup games and one Emirates FA Cup game.
In his 22 games, Bond has brandised 63 yellow cards and one red.
He will be assisted by Michael George and Rob Smith, while John Brookes will act as fourth official.