"They're going up" - EFL pundit issues promotion claim ahead of Birmingham City v Wycombe | OneFootball

The top two in League One go face-to-face in B9 this Saturday

EFL pundits Sam Parkin and Adrian Clarke have assessed the upcoming top two clash in League One between Birmingham City and Wycombe Wanderers, in a game described as "the big one" by co-host, Matt Davies-Adams on the latest episode of the 'What the EFL?!' Podcast.

Blues come into this game riding the crest of a wave, as they come into Saturday lunchtime's fixture still unbeaten in the league since November 23rd, as well as holding an unbeaten record at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park in league outings since March 16th of last year, when they were defeated by Watford.

Meanwhile, the Chairboys are unbeaten in their last seven league games, although four of those have been draws, with former Blues academy manager Mike Dodds picking up five points out of nine in his first three third tier encounters.

Unsurprisingly, a game of such importance in front of the Sky Sports cameras has been previewed at length by the aforementioned trio, as Birmingham could open up a 12-point gap on their nearest promotion rivals, whilst the Buckinghamshire outfit will be out to avenge a 3-2 defeat to the West Midlands side on August 17th.

Sam Parkin discusses Birmingham City predicament ahead of Wycombe Wanderers clash

Whilst Davies' side continued their unbeaten streak in the past week with a draw against Reading and 2-0 success against an in-form Leyton Orient side, that came at a cost as Scott Wright suffered a season-ending knee injury, whilst Lyndon Dykes (calf) and Keshi Anderson (hamstring) all pulled up at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Absentees in B9, which also includes Jay Stansfield, were discussed by Parkin, with Davies-Adams initially stating: "This feels like the big one this weekend, doesn't it? The top two tussle in League One. Runaway leaders Birmingham welcoming Wycombe to St Andrew's."

"Blues extended their lead at the top to nine points as they beat Orient in midweek. Therefore, Sam, you're talking about Portsmouth's injury crisis, might be a good time for Birmingham to have one.

"Scott Wright won't play a game (for the rest of this) season, Lyndon Dykes and Jay Stansfield both missed midweek and Alfie May not really shouldering the goalscoring burden - 11 games without a goal for him - but who cares? They're 12 points clear of third-place Wrexham, and they're going up anyway."

Parkin responded: "They're going up. They're a really good side."

"They build with a back-three, one of the full-backs goes extremely high, nominally Laird, who got a lovely goal the other day."

"I think both centre-halves are really good on the ball, Klarer and Davies," Parkin added. "Davies in particular, really impressed me in the EFL Trophy game the other day. An excellent 1v1 defender, he's beautifully adept at stepping out with the ball, and Laird finished off a really good move the other day.

"He's the one that bombs on. Cochrane tucks around from left-back to make it that back three.

"Then you've got, at the moment, Dowell and Willumsson as your two No.10's, so they just play in off-the-line, a lot of rotation, a lot of movement and that requires someone to stay really wide on the opposite flank, and I think it's Gardner-Hickman, who helped himself to a goal."

"They had Wright fulfilling that role until his injury as well. So, there's loads of little tactical intricacies to their setup.

"They're a really good side at St. Andrew's, we know that. They've been beaten, I think, three times there, twice by Premier League opposition and once on penalties by Walsall.

"In the league, (home form is) pretty immaculate. So, despite the second-best team coming to the Second City this weekend, I'd still fancy Birmingham strongly."

"(They've) conceded once in six games, 23rd November (being) the last time they conceded more than one, so Wycombe are going to have to have their shooting boots on to come back from the Midlands with anything."

Adrian Clarke analyses Wycombe's chances ahead of Birmingham City trip

A change in manager from Matt Bloomfield to Dodds hasn't deterred Wycombe's promotion bid, although results of late have been extremely draw-heavy, with a goalless fixture against Wigan Athletic last weekend proof of that.

Many will believe that, due to an abundance of games-in-hand, Birmingham will not be caught by their nearest rivals, and Clarke agreed when asked by Davies-Adams if Saturday's game was a 'must-not-lose' game for the Chairboys with a home clash with the Red Dragons also looming large.

"I think Sam's right that they are the second-best team," Clarke began.

"You look around, is anyone better than Wycombe? Is someone out there so good that they can haul them in, and I don't know if Wrexham are that team now," the former Arsenal player claimed.

"I think they've (Wrexham) plateaued, so these draws haven't been as costly as they might've been for Wycombe.

"They're really solid aren't they? They've let in seven goals in their last 10 games.

"I mean, this doesn't feel like a high-scoring game does it, it feels like a real low-scoring one - it could be 0-0 or 1-0 either way, even though the reverse fixture at the start of the season was 3-2.

"They've (Wycombe) got the best conversion rate, they very rarely make a mistake at the back that gifts people chances or goals, they're really reliable.

"Selection, a little poser for Dodds. He seems to like Udoh up front, and, obviously, Kone's been amazing this season.

"Kone was sub v Wigan. Was he just rested or not, I don't know? But Udoh has started up top the last few games.

"I know he was injured, but you've got to bring Kone for this one. I think he's got to bring him back in. He's a big game player, he's the talisman."

This match-up sees the division's two highest-scorers go head-to-head, with Davies' side also holding the meanest defensive record in the league, meaning it looks set to be decided in both boxes.

So often, these type of fixtures are a cagey affair, as was evident in Birmingham's trip to Wrexham in January, but the onus will be on the home side to control proceedings in and out of possession, which has been a feature of many games in B9 this term.

However, Wycombe have continuously demonstrated a steel to their game this season with plenty of aerial threats, and in Kone, a real difference-maker with 16 goals in 29 appearances.