Birmingham City vs Swansea City. Sky Bet Championship.
St. Andrew's StadiumAttendance20,083.
Watch Birmingham v Swansea live on Sky Sports Football on Friday from 7pm
Friday 17 August 2018 19:33, UK
Birmingham are short of midfield options for Swansea's Sky Bet Championship visit on Friday night.
Craig Gardner is banned after being sent off at Middlesbrough, David Davis has a long-term ankle injury and Cheikh Ndoye rejoined Angers on a season-long loan on Thursday. Loan signing Gary Gardner stands by for his league debut after joining from neighbours Aston Villa for the season.
Blues boss Garry Monk made 11 changes for the Carabao Cup defeat at Reading in midweek and Harlee Dean, Jacques Maghoma and Che Adams are among those set to return.
Dutch goalkeeper Erwin Mulder will make his first Swansea start after replacing the injured Kristoffer Nordfeldt against Preston last weekend. Nordfeldt is expected to miss two to four weeks because of a groin injury.
Leroy Fer made a surprise return from the bench during the 1-0 win against Preston after missing six months with a ruptured Achiles. Fer is likely to be involved as a substitute again as he builds up game-time, but Wilfried Bony has yet to rejoin first-team training following the anterior cruciate ligament injury he suffered in February.
This is the first league meeting between Birmingham and Swansea since December 2008, a goalless draw at St. Andrew's.
The Swans were victorious in their last visit to St. Andrew's, winning 2-1 in an FA Cup fourth-round tie.
Birmingham's last win over Swansea - in September 2013 in a third round League Cup tie - was Garry Monk's final match as a player, playing the full 90 minutes for Swansea.
In the post-war era, Welsh sides have collected just four wins in 43 league visits to Birmingham - Swansea twice (March 1953 and March 1995) and Cardiff twice (December 1966 and January 2013).
Birmingham manager Garry Monk has only lost two of his last 11 home Championship matches (W7 D2), losing just one as Blues manager (0-1 v Middlesbrough in March).
Swansea haven't won three consecutive league matches since their final three matches of the 2016-17 season in the Premier League.
This will be an emotional night for Garry Monk as he prepares to face Swansea for the first time as a manager. It's not been an easy start to the season for Birmingham with the embargo and results haven't been great either.
It's early days for Graham Potter but the signs have been good so far for him as he attempts to push the Swans towards promotion. I think he'll make it three wins from three at St Andrew's.
David Prutton predicts: 1-2 with Ollie McBurnie to score first (35/1 with Sky Bet)
