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Birmingham City host Middlesbrough at St. Andrew's in the EFL Championship on Saturday, with the hosts looking to bounce back from two successive losses.
In their last match, Birmingham lost 3-2 to Cardiff City. They were 2-1 up with 13 minutes to play, but Harry Wilson and Sean Morrison scored late goals for Cardiff to deny the Blues the three points in that game.
Those two successive losses have left Birmingham in 17th position in the league, with only 22 points from 19 games.
However, the unpredictable nature of the Championship means that Birmingham only find themselves 10 points off the playoff positions at the moment. That means that if they put together a consistent run of wins, they could easily climb up the table into a more respectable position.
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Middlesbrough are in seventh place, and have just eight points more than Birmingham. Neil Warnock's team have been excellent in their last two games in which they beat Luton Town and Millwall, without conceding a goal in that period.
Birmingham City vs Middlesbrough Head-to-Head
Birmingham City have won 45 of the 117 matches that they have played against Middlesbrough. There have been 36 Middlesbrough wins in this fixture in the past, and the same number of draws.
Birmingham City form guide: L-L-W-W-L
Middlesbrough form guide: W-W-L-L-W
Birmingham City vs Middlesbrough Team News
Birmingham City will have left-back Kristian Pedersen available again after he missed the last game against Cardiff City due to a suspension.
They don't have any known injury concerns to deal with at the moment.
Injured: None
Suspended: None
Centre-back Grant Hall and striker Ashley Fletcher are long-term absentees with injures, with Warnock unable to call on them for at least the next few months.
Sam Morsy is suspended after receiving a red card in the last game against Luton.
Injured: Grant Hall, Ashley Fletcher
Suspended: Sam Morsy
Birmingham City vs Middlesbrough Predicted XI
Birmingham City Predicted XI (3-5-2): Neil Etheridge; Marc Roberts, Mikel San Jose, Jake Clarke-Salter; Josh Dacres-Cogley, Gary Gardner, Maikel Kieftenbeld, Ivan Sunjic, Kristian Pedersen; Lukas Jutkiewicz, Jonathan Leko
Middlesbrough Predicted XI (4-5-1): Marcus Bettinelli; Anfernee Dijksteel, Dael Fry, Paddy McNair, Marc Bola; Jonny Howson, George Saville, Sam Morsy, Marvin Johnson, Duncan Watmore; Chuba Akpom
Birmingham City vs Middlesbrough Prediction
Based on the form book, and the fact that Middlesbrough haven't conceded too many goals recently, we are predicting a narrow win for Boro in this game.
Prediction: Birmingham City 1-2 Middlesbrough
