Championship football today from St Andrews. Birmingham v Cardiff, ko 3:00pm.
Birmingham City midfielder Ivan Sunjic returns from suspension for the visit of Cardiff, but captain Harlee Dean serves a one-match ban.
Marc Roberts is back in training after an ankle injury but Maikel Kieftenbeld (knee) is still out.
Cardiff could recall keeper Neil Etheridge having left him out since 1 January following speculation linking him with a move to West Ham.
Joe Ralls is also incontention after returning to the side for the FA Cup victory in midweek at Carlisle. Harris made nine changes for that game and today's line up will revert to a similar starting eleven to the one that drew with Swansea last weekend.
Neil Harris on Birmingham City:
“They’re another strong Championship side. They can pass the ball with their personnel, but have played quite direct in the last couple of games, with Jutkiewicz who is a very experienced quality centre forward at this level and they’ve had two very good results.
“Going to St Andrew's is never an easy place to go, but is an enjoyable away day as a player, manager and fan. We look at them, know their strengths and where we can affect them.
“But we look at us, building off a strong performance against Swansea, the result the other night and the mentality I’ve seen in training. I’m looking forward to seeing the players again. We just need that little bit of quality in the final third too, and that’s the aim.”
Match facts
- Birmingham have lost their last two league games against Cardiff, conceding seven goals across those defeats.
- Cardiff have not won three consecutive league games against Birmingham since February 1928 (five in a row).
- Birmingham have not won three consecutive games in all competitions since a run of four under Garry Monk in October 2018.
- Cardiff won three of their first four league games under Neil Harris (D1) but have won just one of their subsequent seven games (W1 D4 L2).
- Since his Championship debut for the club in September 2016, Lukas Jutkiewicz has scored 39 goals for Birmingham - 25 more than any other current Blues player.
- In the Championship this season, Cardiff City have managed just 46 open play sequences with 10 or more passes - 13 fewer than any other team.
Match officials:
Referee: ANDY DAVIES
Assistants: Mark Dwyer and Geoffrey Russell
Fourth Official : Paul Marsden