Why Birmingham City look the real deal for Premier League promotion - there are 2 clear reasons already | OneFootball

The Blues have gotten off to an almost perfect start in the 2025/26 campaign

One of the most intriguing stories of the new Championship season surrounded Birmingham City and whether the record-breaking League One side would immediately become one of the more dominant second-tier sides.

And after their first couple of games, one in the league and the other in the EFL Cup, they've left a lot on the pitch which will excite Blues fans.

Their schedule couldn't have been more testing from the off, as Chris Davies' side took on Ipswich Town, who, under Kieran McKenna, picked up 96 points in the division a couple of years ago, and are regarded by many as the favourites to win the title this season.

Then, five days later, they would take on last season's defeated play-off finalists, Sheffield United, who were among those fighting for the title last term, and many expect them to once again be battling near the top in 2025/26.

Plenty of people were high on Birmingham coming into this season, but there were still a few sceptics who felt that a back-to-back promotion would be a step too far, and that the quality of sides who graced the Premier League in the past few seasons would still be too much for the Blues.

But, whilst it has only been two games, Davies and co are starting to quieten those doubters already.

Birmingham City's electric start to the 2025/26 season

All eyes were on St Andrew's to begin the season, as Birmingham took on Ipswich under the Friday night lights to open the Championship campaign.

It was a big occasion, but one which Chris Davies' side stood up to, and at 0-0, they were the better team. They grew into the game well, with 65% of the possession in the first half, and when they finally took the lead through Jay Stansfield, few could say it wasn't deserved.

The Tractor Boys piled on the pressure after the goal, and the Birmingham defence finally cracked when Lyndon Dykes was penalised for handball in the box. But even then, George Hirst's 95th-minute penalty was Ipswich's only shot on target in the match.

To come out of the opening day frustrated that they weren't able to take all three points against a former Premier League side would have been incredibly encouraging, and they then went and took that momentum into their EFL Cup first round tie against Sheffield United.

Birmingham blew Sheffield United away on Wednesday night, creating an admirable 3.13 xG across 90 minutes, albeit Kyogo Furuhashi's opener accounted for 0.95 of that total, after he tapped into an empty net following a mistake by Dovydas Sasnauskas.

And, whilst Ruben Selles did make 10 changes to the side who were well-beaten on opening day against Bristol City, that's not to say that Davies didn't shuffle the pack himself, as he made six changes from the Ipswich draw.

A Blades side that achieved 73.8% possession against Bristol City had less of the ball against Birmingham, and the Blues once again restricted Sheffield United to one shot on target, and even that was from nearly 50 yards out!

When Jay Stansfield netted from the bench with a few minutes remaining, Birmingham were good value for their win, and it capped off an impressive opening couple of games for Davies' side.

What we learned from Birmingham City's opening two games

Whilst it's always important not to get carried away by a couple of results, there's been a lot to like about this Birmingham side so far this season.

Despite a shaky six months in France, Kyogo looks like a real danger man up front at Birmingham, just like we saw whilst at Celtic, and when he's not firing, Stansfield behind him can take the scoring load off.

And then at the back, the Blues have done well to shut out two of the division's best on-paper attacks, with only one shot on target coming in each game. Obviously, there'll be games where more shots on goal come in, but then you'd expect that not every shot will nestle in the back of the net, so that'll even itself out.

The depth of this side looks great for the opening parts of the season, too. Six changes were made in the cup tie, yet none of these players would look out of place in an important league game towards the end of the season. Some players may leave between now and the end of the window, but there's also time to further fill out the side, too.

And, whilst it's clear that both Ipswich and Sheffield United are undergoing a period of transition to begin the new season and that you'd expect them to kick on in a few weeks, they still have top-quality Championship players and managers, and to look the better side in both games is a huge indication of a good season.