Birmingham City vs Aston Villa: TV channel, live stream, squad news & preview
City rivals meet on Sunday and they will each be hoping to deal a blow to the other’s hopes of reaching the play-offs
Rivals Birmingham City and Aston Villa face off at St Andrew’s on Sunday with both sides keen to keep their Championship play-off hopes alive.
The Blues come into the game four places ahead of Villa in 10th but just two points separate them, meaning a win for Dean Smith’s men could catapult them up the table.
Victory for the hosts, meanwhile, could see them leapfrog Nottingham Forest and thrust them back into the periphery of the play-off spots.
Despite being behind Birmingham in the table, Villa arguably hold an edge, having triumphed in a six-goal thriller between the sides back in November.
Indeed, they come into the game on a high too after beating Derby County 4-0 in their last outing, while Birmingham suffered a 2-0 defeat to Hull City.
| Game | Birmingham City vs Aston Villa |
| Date | Sunday, March 10 |
| Time | 12pm GMT / 7am ET |
In the United States (US), the game can be streamed via ESPN+.
| US TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| N/A | ESPN+ |
In the UK, the game will be shown on Sky Sports Football and Main Event and can be streamed through the Sky Go app.
| UK TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| Sky Sports Football / Sky Sports Main Event | Sky Go |
| Position | Aston Villa squad |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Nyland, Steer, Kalinic, Bunn |
| Defenders | Taylor, Tuanzebe, Chester, Hutton, Elphick, Hause, Revan, Mings |
| Midfielders | Whelan, McGinn, Lansbury, Grealish, Carroll, Hourihane, Jedinak, Davis, Bjarnason, El Mohamady, Adomah, Ramsey, Lyden |
| Forwards | Abraham, Green, Kodjia, El Ghazi |
Villa will be without a number of players for the derby clash, with Tommy Elphick, James Chester and Axel Tuanzebe all out of action. Henri Lansbury and Alan Hutton are also unavailable, but John McGinn returns.
Jack Grealish is set to captain Villa for the match as he continues in the leadership role in the absence of Chester and Hutton.
Possible Aston Villa starting XI: Steer; Taylor, Mings, Hause, El Mohamady; Hourihane, Whelan, Grealish; Adomah, El Ghazi, Abraham.
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| Position | Birmingham City squad |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Camp, Trueman |
| Defenders | Pedersen, Roberts, Colin, Dean, Cogley, Morrison, Harding |
| Midfielders | Kieftenbeld, Mahoney, C. Gardner, Adams, Mrabti, Maghoma, G. Gardner, Jota, Davis, Lakin |
| Forwards | Jutkiewicz, Vassell, Lubala |
Birmingham have no suspensions to be concerned about, but Marc Roberts, Charlie Lakin and Maxime Colin are all expected to miss the game due to respective injuries.
Possible Birmingham starting XI: Camp; Pedersen, Morrison, Dean, Harding; Mahoney, Davis, G. Gardner, Mrabti; Jutkiewicz, Adams.
Home side Birmingham are slight favourites to win the match at 7/4 with bet365. Aston Villa can be backed at 9/5 and a draw is priced at 23/10.
Click here to see more offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more.
Aston Villa will be aiming to take advantage of Birmingham’s recent inconsistency as they attempt to secure their second derby win of the season to add to November’s 4-2 win.
The Blues have found themselves faltering in recent weeks and another defeat would be a blow in their pursuit of a place in the play-offs.
“They’ve done well this season, but probably not done so well in the last four games. They’ve won one, drawn one and lost two,” Villa boss Smith told BBC Sport ahead of the game.
“Their form’s been patchy at St Andrew’s and we’ve got to take advantage of that.”
Villa themselves have endured a poor run of form recently too, but their emphatic victory over Derby last week saw them return to winning ways after a spell of five games without a win.
Despite having to contend with a number of injuries to key players, they will be hoping to carry confidence from that win into the derby.
Birmingham boss Garry Monk, meanwhile, is expecting an all-action affair, much like the reverse fixture at Villa Park earlier in the season.
“Derby games are hard to predict,” Monk told the BBC.
“I’ve been involved in them as player and a manager and they’re all different. Some are frantic, some not so frantic. Some brilliant football, some not.”