PREVIEW: Bristol City travel to Birmingham in search of first points of new season | OneFootball

Bristol City will travel to St.Andrews tomorrow afternoon to take on Birmingham City, as both sides look to get their season up and running.

The Robins suffered a 2-0 home defeat to Millwall in their season opener; they had been keeping pace with their opponents until Adam Randell’s 36th-minute red card, which was shortly followed by a sucker-punch goal from Josh Coburn before the break. Coburn netted again in the second half, when he headed home to double the visitors’ lead.

Blues meanwhile featured in a much less eventful game, which took place two hours later at Bramall Lane and saw them draw 0-0 with Sheffield United. Birmingham were by far the better side, controlling the ball and creating far more chances than the Blades, but they just lacked that cutting edge to find the back of the net.

The spoils were shared between these two sides, with Bristol City picking up a 1-0 win at Ashton Gate in October, before Blues won the reverse fixture 2-1 in April thanks to goals from Phil Neumann and Jhon Solís. Not a lot separated the teams in the league table either come the end of the season, with The Robins finishing 12th and Birmingham finishing just two points above them in 10th.

Bristol City’s new boss, Michael Skubala, spoke with the media yesterday and confirmed that his side are “as they were” in terms of player availability, barring Randell’s suspension, of course. The presumption from most is that it will be Joe Williams who takes Randell’s place alongside Jason Knight, after he was introduced from the bench against Millwall.

Marc Leonard will remain out for Birmingham with an ongoing hamstring injury; however, this weekend could see the home debut of former Bristol City midfielder Max Bird in a Birmingham shirt following his £2 million move last week. Bird had been at Bristol City since the Summer of 2024 and played a crucial role in the side reaching the play-offs in his first season, before seeing his second plagued by injury.

The game is scheduled to kick off at 12:30 BST tomorrow afternoon, and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports+.