Double Birmingham City factor hands Blues boost ahead of Stoke City - Mark Robins faces tough task | OneFootball

Blues will be hoping two strong trends continue on Saturday at the Bet365 Stadium

Birmingham City return to Championship action on Saturday afternoon, looking to right the wrongs of a previously frustrating performance away to Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.

Blues previously held an unbeaten record upon their return to the second-tier, but were undone against the Foxes on August 30th, with Abdul Fatawu and Ricardo Pereira converting the encounter's two chances of real note and quality, whilst Chris Davies' side were constantly thwarted by Marti Cifuentes' resolute rearguard.

Nonetheless, Davies and his side have had a two-week gap to rectify the issues and shortcomings that were on show at the King Power and will hope to return to winning ways against Stoke City at the Bet365 Stadium.

The Potters are currently two points and seven places in front of Birmingham after the opening four Championship encounters, also suffering a maiden defeat of the league campaign at the hands of West Bromwich Albion, courtesy of Nat Phillips' early close-range strike.

Such positive starts to the campaign for both sides under Davies and the vastly-experienced Mark Robins give supporters of both sides hope that they are in for an enthralling 90 minutes after which their team comes out on top.

However, those travelling up the M6 will be buoyed by two key factors that may cause nervousness among those in the Potteries.

Birmingham City will hope Jay Stansfield continues Stoke City scoring streak after recent injury absence

Prior to the 2-0 defeat against Leicester two weeks ago, Davies and Blues were dealt a major blow in their chances of obtaining a positive result when star man, record signing and poster boy of the Knighthead 'rebuild', Jay Stansfield, was absent from the squad after suffering a knee issue against Stoke's fierce rivals, Port Vale, in the EFL Cup. However, there is hope that he will be back in action for the upcoming clash in the Potteries.

The 22-year-old had scored in two of the club's opening four Championship encounters against Ipswich Town and Blackburn Rovers beforehand, as well as the winner in the EFL Cup First Round against Sheffield United at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park, with his current Blues record reading 39 goals in just 96 appearances.

Two of those would also come against Stoke during the club's chaotic relegation season two years ago, with the first being a strike from inside the box on 69 minutes during a 3-1 defeat under Wayne Rooney - just two games before the Liverpudlian was sacked, whilst the second was much more meaningful.

Stansfield netted the first of Blues' goals in a 2-1 success in North Staffordshire back in January 2024, as he fired home a close-range effort in the early stages, setting Tony Mowbray on the way to his first win in charge of the club in what was his first away encounter.

Mowbray stated afterwards: "The first goal was a brilliant goal - what a finish. How clinical is Jay Stansfield when he's through like that?"

Birmingham City have the Indian sign over Stoke City in Bet365 Stadium meetings

The aforementioned victory also continued a trend which is very much in Blues' favour when it comes to meetings at the Bet365, with the B9 club only suffering defeat at Stoke's home ground on two occasions in its 28 years of existence.

In fact, the very first of those meetings will spark joyous memories for Bluenoses of a certain generation, as Trevor Francis' side ran riot against a struggling Potters side managed by ex-Aston Villa boss, Brian Little, winning 7-0 on 10th January, 1998.

Stoke have only emerged victorious against their Midlands counterparts at the Bet365 via a 3-2 success in the Premier League back in November 2010, whilst the second win, by two goals to nil, came in July 2020 when no fans were present due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Indeed, since the Reds' return to the Championship in 2018/19, Birmingham have won six of the 12 meetings between the two sides, with four others ending in stalemates whilst Stoke's two successes came four and one-and-a-half years ago, meaning there is added motivation for Robins to take three points this upcoming weekend.