Birmingham City

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Middlesbrough will seek to get back to winning ways after a mini-wobble as they welcome free-scoring Birmingham to The Riverside on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

Boro are three Championship games without a win and have fallen out of the automatic promotion places to third, following a 1-1 draw at home to Wrexham with a 3-0 capitulation at Watford last Saturday and then salvaging a last-ditch 1-1 draw at Leicester on Tuesday night.

Birmingham are up to ninth, only two points outside the play-off places, after back-to-back 4-0 home wins, over Portsmouth last Saturday and against previously unbeaten travellers Millwall on Tuesday.

Chris Davies' side have however taken only four points from their past six on the road, losing four of those games without scoring.

• Middlesbrough have won their past five league games against Birmingham; their longest ever winning streak against them in league action. They've also kept a clean sheet in four of those five victories, conceding just one goal overall.

• The last two times Middlesbrough have hosted Birmingham in league competition have ended in 1-0 victories for Boro (October 2022 and October 2023). Blues have failed to score in six of their last nine away league matches at the Riverside Stadium.

• Middlesbrough are unbeaten in their past eight home league matches (W5 D3), and haven't conceded more than once in any of their past 13 matches at the Riverside in the Championship (since a 3-2 defeat to Sunderland in February).

• Birmingham City have won three of their past four league games (L1), as many as they managed across their first 10 this season (W3 D3 L4) – the Blues last won three Championship matches in a row in August 2023.

• Middlesbrough have scored three goals from the 80th minute onwards to earn a draw in the Championship this season, their most such goals in a season since 2018-19 (also 3).

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Birmingham City's electric recent form is down to the squad nailing their mentality, says full-back Alex Cochrane.

Blues impressively beat in-form Millwall 4-0 on Tuesday to record their second win by that scoreline at St Andrew's in four days.

Cochrane, who was among the scorers, said boss Chris Davies had made it clear what he wanted from this players after Saturday's hammering of Portsmouth.

"The manager spoke about it. The mentality had to be right," Cochrane told BBC Radio WM.

"We had to have the right intensity, have the desire to get forward into the box, to create chances and we were clinical. To score four goals again at home - it's a good night.

"It's enjoyable. Everybody wants the ball and is trying things. We won't get complacent, we still need to do the right stuff because we know how good we are when we get it right and the last two games we've shown that."

Left-back Cochrane thumped home Blues' third goal five minutes into the second half after first-half goals from Paik Seung-ho and Demarai Gray put the home side in control.

Jay Stansfield then iced the cake for Blues just past the hour as Davies' side notched up their third win in four Championship matches.

Cochrane's goal - a sweet 20-yard volley - was his first at St Andrew's and the fourth game in a row he had been directly involved in a Birmingham goal.

"It's definitely something I want to add to my game and feel I can add it," he said.

"It's nice to contribute and to get a clean sheet is important and obviousy it's nice to score a goal.

"I caught it sweetly and it was nice to see it go in the back of the net. It was a nice feeling to get my first goal at St Andrew's."

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Birmingham City head coach Chris Davies said his side's second 4-0 home victory in a row was "all about the hunger".

They followed up Saturday's win over Portsmouth with an equally convincing result against Millwall at St Andrew's.

Davies told BBC WM: "It was a case of, you win a game 4-0 and its very easy just to come off it just slightly. But I thought there was a relentlessness about us again.

"Really aggressive, really intense, really high tempo, players with the desire to score and arriving in the box, playing forward, running forward.

"We almost picked up exactly from where we left off in the previous game which is really pleasing, because it can easily go the other way. I was really pleased with that performance.

"Millwall are a solid, seasoned team at this level. They're always going to cause you a problem in a game, but I thought we managed it really well, we gave very little away, and we probably could have had more than the actual four that we scored in the end."

Blues are next in action with a trip to Middlesbrough on Saturday.

Birmingham City are back at St Andrew's on Tuesday as they look to stop high-flyers Millwall (19:45 GMT).

Blues will be full of confidence after their 4-0 demolition of Portsmouth on Saturday, knowing a win can move them within three points of the visitors.

The Lions come into this one with fresh injury concerns after Femi Azeez and Ryan Leonard suffered knocks in the draw at Oxford on Saturday but will be hoping to return to winning ways.

• Birmingham City have won just one of their past 11 league meetings with Millwall (D6 L4), winning 1-0 on the road in April 2023 through Lukas Jutkiewicz.

• Millwall are unbeaten in each of their past eight away league games against Birmingham City, though each of the past five have all ended level (W3) – the Lions have only ever gone on a longer run without loss on the road to Watford (10 between 1958 and 1991), but they have never drawn six in a row to the same side.

• Birmingham City won all seven of their midweek (Tue/Wed/Thu) home games in League One last season and conceded just once, before drawing 2-2 in their first this season to Sheffield Wednesday in September – their past such defeat in the league came to Cardiff City in April 2024 (0-1).

• Millwall won their most recent midweek (Tue/Wed/Thu) away league game against Sheffield United in April, last winning back-to-back such matches in October/December 2021, when the first game also came against the Blades, before then beating Coventry.

• Jay Stansfield's first ever league start for Birmingham City came at home to Millwall in September 2023, netting his first goal at St Andrew's for the club in a 1-1 draw.

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies praised his side's growing threat from dead-ball situations after all four goals in their emphatic win over Portsmouth came from set pieces.

Seung-ho Paik, Tomoki Iwata, Christoph Klarer and Keshi Anderson's efforts either resulted directly or shortly after dead balls, following the recent trend in the professional game.

"I think we've been working on our set pieces, wanting to improve them — they can make a difference in a game. We know that," Davies told BBC Radio WM.

"Unlock a tight defence and an excellent ball... it's something we've been working on, well executed by Alex [Cochrane]. The way Paik had to work his feet and then angle his body to head it in was a really good start."

"Tomoki, who is becoming almost the first name on the team sheet at right-back now with his performance, covered pretty much every blade of grass out there today and gets a reward with a goal."

Birmingham City will look to regain their dominant home form as they host Portsmouth on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

Blues saw their impressive 29 match undefeated run at St Andrew's come to an end during their last home match but will be hoping to bounce back immediately with a jubilant victory.

While Pompey are looking for a first victory in four matches, having lost both their last two to see them drifting closer to the bottom three.

• This will be the first league meeting between Birmingham City and Portsmouth since March 2012, a 4-1 victory for Pompey in the Championship.

• Portsmouth have won just one of their last 11 away league games against Birmingham City (D3 L7), a 2-0 victory at St Andrew's in November 2007 in the Premier League.

• A defeat to Hull City ended Birmingham's 29 game unbeaten run at home in the league last time out (W23 D6), as they now look to avoid successive defeats at St Andrew's for the first time since March 2024.

• After losing to Coventry City and Stoke City in their last two matches, Portsmouth will be looking to avoid three league losses in a row for the first time since September 2024.

• This season in the Championship, no player has amassed a bigger xG total without scoring than Birmingham's Kyogo Furuhashi (2.8) – he has now gone 17 league games without scoring since leaving Celtic in January 2025, after netting nine times across his final 17 Scottish Premiership outings.

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies felt Bristol City's counter-attacking winner was a "really poor goal" after his side lost at Ashton Gate.

Davies told BBC Radio WM: "It was always going to be like that with the way they play, on the counter-attack. I thought we'd have more of the ball but we had even more than I thought we would.

"We were like the home team and them the away team but we couldn't make all that possession count and create clear chances with it.

"We had a few moments where, if we're there, we score, as it flashed across goal again but we don't make the most of them and pay the price before half-time with their only shot on goal - one ball up the pitch, one run and a one v one and a goal.

"It's a really poor goal, loss of possession, but it can happen. We need to sense the danger a little bit quicker because it's a really simple goal considering how hard we've had to work for any openings we've got."

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies said that defender Phil Neumann has taken his chance to break into the side following Jack Robinson's suspension.

Neumann had lost his place to the suspended Robinson but made an impression upon his return by scoring the winner against Preston North End on Tuesday.

Robinson's red card drew criticism from Davies, with the 40-year-old blaming a "lack of discipline" for their previous loss to Hull City that ended a lengthy 29-match unbeaten home run.

"I think what Neumann gives you, if there are any mistakes that happen, he's got pace. So if they run away and they put a ball in behind, he quickly gets there," Davies told BBC Radio WM.

"Chris Klarer, to be fair to him, is having to move around a little bit, which isn't ideal for a centre-back.

"I would love to settle on a partnership. I would love to build a bit of consistency in that position because it is important, but the suspensions we've had have knocked that a bit so I think what he [Neumann] had was a chance and he took it."

Listen to the full interview with Davies and more Birmingham City content on BBC Sounds.

Bristol City head into this game looking to win three league matches in a row for the first time since December 2023.

Birmingham are going for back-to-back away victories, having won 1-0 at Preston on Tuesday evening.

• Bristol City have won just one of their past six league games against Birmingham City (D1 L4), failing to score in four of those matches.

• Birmingham City have won 10 of their past 13 away league games against Bristol City (D1 L2), including five of their previous six (L1).

• Only Coventry (12) have won more home Championship games in 2025 than Bristol City (10).

• After beating Preston 1-0 last time out, Birmingham are looking to win successive away Championship games for the first time since September 2022.

• Only Brandon Thomas-Asante (11) and Oliver McBurnie (9) have more goal involvements in the Championship this season than Bristol City's Anis Mehmeti (8 – 5 goals, 3 assists), recording five in his past five games at Ashton Gate (3 goals, 2 assists).

Brighton loanee James Beadle kept his first clean sheet for Birmingham City in Tuesday's 1-0 Championship win at Preston North End.

The England's Under-21 international has started the past three league games in place of Ryan Allsop, who was chosen in goal for the first eight Championship matches of the campaign.

"I know Ryan, I worked with him at Bournemouth and I did something similar there where I came into the side when he had been playing," former Blues goalkeeper Lee Camp told BBC Radio WM.

"He's a great guy with a great character and he's a Blues fan. He'll be disappointed, probably frustrated, angry and desperate to play but he is a consummate professional and he'll go about his business in the right way, I have no doubt about it."

Camp added: "If the person who has got the shirt is consistent and doing well, there is no need to change it.

"The reality of it is that we all know what we sign up for, but I was never good at being a number two and that is why I probably had so many clubs during my career - because I wanted to play."

Listen to the full interview with Camp and more Birmingham City content on BBC Sounds.

Birmingham City defender Phil Neumann says he believes his side deserved their 1-0 win over Preston North End at Deepdale.

The German started his first game for the Blues since their 1-0 defeat against Stoke City on 13 September.

"It was a really tough game but I think everybody left it all out on the pitch and we deserved to win.

"I am happy with my goal and for the opportunity to play again, so it was a very nice evening.

"I think they must have crossed the ball 100 times in the game and they have so many big strikers, so it was tough, but in the end we did really well and we have a clean sheet, which is really good."

The 28-year-old's 33rd-minute goal was all that separated the two teams in the game and ensured his side went back to the West Midlands with all three points.

"We practice those sort of crosses a lot, I got some good movement and got across the defenders and managed to get a good header and maybe a little touch off my shoulder."

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies was full of praise for his players' performance in their 1-0 win against Preston North End on Tuesday night.

Blues picked up their first victory since a 1-0 win over Swansea on 20 September, ending their four-game winless run.

"I said to the players that if you are going to win a game like that, there is nothing really better, it's a great feeling," Davies told BBC Radio WM.

"It was a really good away performance - we started brightly, we had a few really good passing moves, looked strong and aggressive in the duels, were dangerous going forward and we scored a good goal from the set-piece.

"As the game went on, we knew we would face some pressure, but I'm really pleased with how the players defended that lead."

German defender Phil Neumann scored the game's only goal, in his first appearance for the club since the 13 September defeat by Stoke City.

"I am really pleased for Phil because he is settling into a new club and a new environment, so that will give him a lot of confidence," Davies added.

"As soon as I saw Michael Smith was on the teamsheet I knew what was coming as we have all seen him play over the years and he does what he does fantastically well, but I thought Phil looked really good aerially, he looked really strong and competed well."

Listen to the full interview with Davies and more Blues content on BBC Sounds.

Birmingham City will look to avoid a hangover after losing their unbeaten run at home as they return to the road to visit Preston North End on Tuesday (19:45 BST).

Blues had not conceded defeat at St Andrew's for 18 months before Hull City ended that run with a dramatic 3-2 victory on Saturday.

But now the West Midlands side, who are winless in four, will look to spoil the party at Deepdale, where Preston are yet to lose this season.

The Lilywhites find themselves one point outside of the top six after a loss to West Bromwich Albion last time out and will be hoping their commanding home form will propel them back inside the play-off places.

• Preston have lost two of their last four home league games against Birmingham City (W1 D1), as many as their previous 31 beforehand (W19 D10).

• Birmingham won their last league meeting with Preston 1-0 in April 2024 but haven't won consecutively against the Lilywhites since February 2001.

• Since the start of last season, Preston have lost fewer Championship home games (4) than any ever-present side in the division.

• Birmingham have lost three of their last four away league games (D1), as many as their previous 26 beforehand (W16 D7).

• Preston's Paul Heckingbottom has never lost as a manager to Birmingham in six Championship meetings (W4 D2), only managing against Sunderland (7) more times in the division without losing.