Home / Football / Birmingham vs Bournemouth – Match Preview

Birmingham vs Bournemouth – Match Preview

Birmingham City may be able to call on David Cotterill (knee) and Neal Eardley (groin), who both face late tests.

Koby Arthur (thigh) is almost certainly out, but on-loan striker James Vaughan is available after extending his loan.

Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe will rotate his squad but skipper Simon Francis was already out suspended after having his red card appeal rejected by the FA.

Winger Juan Iturbe has not received his work permit following his move from Roma so is not in contention.

Gary Rowett’s Blues will be playing their first fixture since the £3.7 midweek sale of teenage winger Demarai Gray to Leicester, but they coped well without him last Saturday, when they beat Brentford 2-1.

Editor’s Note: Birmingham lie 8th in The Championship and tomorrow will be looking to claim a Premier League scalp in the shape of Bournemouth. Although Birmingham are going to have to do a lot better compared to when the sides last met as The Cherries dished out an 8-0 thumping at St Andrews.

Gary Rowett’s side are just two points off the play off positions and his side would no doubt love the the extra boost of progressing to the 4th Round. Only they will have to do without Demarai Gray who was sold on Monday. How much of a miss will that be when going up against Top Flight opposition.

Eddie Howe may be tempted to rest key players and his line up tomorrow will be a measure of how serious he will take this competition and whether he feels that Premier League safety is the only agenda for the rest of the season. One player they will miss is Simon Francis who in my opinion was incorrectly sent off last weekend against Leicester

Juan Iturbe is an interesting signing but unfortunately for him and Bournemouth he doesn’t feature but Manager an fans alike will be looking forward to the flair and creativity that he can provide out wide. That will have to wait until at least Midweek as first Manager Howe has to make sure they can repeat the feats of the last two seasons and progress to the next round.

I think Bournemouth should have enough in them to win Tomorrow Afternoon. Maybe both teams to score but ultimately an away win and the South Coast side into the hat on Monday for the 4th Round Draw.

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: