Birmingham City vs Preston North End. Sky Bet Championship.
St. Andrew's StadiumAttendance20,523.
Friday 30 November 2018 13:02, UK
Birmingham will check on the fitness of Jota ahead of their home game against Preston.
The Spanish winger has missed the last two matches with the hip problem that forced him off midway through the first half of the 3-3 draw with Hull on November 10. David Davis and Isaac Vassell continue their recovery from respective ankle and knee injuries.
Blues boss Garry Monk, whose team won for the first time in four Championship games at Millwall in midweek, has Wes Harding and Craig Gardner available should he wish to make any changes.
Preston's squad will be down to the bare bones at St Andrew's on Saturday. Callum Robinson (hamstring), Daniel Johnson (thigh), Sean Maguire (hamstring), Billy Bodin (knee) and Josh Harrop (knee) are all definitely out.
North End boss Alex Neil hopes central defender Ben Davies can recover from a hamstring problem and be available. Teenage midfielder Jack Baxter was in the squad for the midweek game against Middlesbrough and he may travel to the Midlands.
Birmingham have won one of their last 14 matches against Preston in all competitions (D4 L9).
Preston haven't won consecutive away league games at Birmingham since 1938.
Birmingham are unbeaten in 14 home league games (W7 D7), their best such run since February 2012 (16 matches).
Preston are currently unbeaten in nine league games (W4 D5), having lost seven of their previous nine before this run (D2). If they avoid defeat in Birmingham, this will be their longest run without a league defeat since April 2015 (18 games), when they were promoted to the Championship.
Only Brentford (17) have lost more points from leading positions in this season's Championship than Birmingham City (16).
Birmingham boss Garry Monk and Preston's Alex Neil have met on three previous occasions in the league; Birmingham will be the fourth different side Monk has managed in four such matches against Neil after Swansea City, Leeds United and Middlesbrough.
David Prutton predicts: 1-2 (10/1 with Sky Bet)
