Birmingham City vs Leeds United; Sky Bet Championship
Birmingham City vs Leeds United. Sky Bet Championship.
St. Andrew's StadiumAttendance21,673.
Birmingham v Leeds preview
Friday 29 December 2017 12:06, UK
Birmingham will have Sam Gallagher available again when Leeds visit St Andrew's.
The striker served a one-match ban on Boxing Day as a 2-0 home defeat to Norwich left Blues bottom of the Sky Bet Championship. Midfielder David Davis will be pushing for a return to the starting line-up having made a couple of substitute appearances, including the whole of the second half against the Canaries, following his recovery from an ankle injury.
Marc Roberts (hamstring), Che Adams (hamstring) and Isaac Vassell (knee) remain sidelined as Birmingham look for a first win in eight league matches.
Leeds playmaker Samu Saiz will return for the trip to the Midlands. The Spanish midfielder has missed the last two games with a calf problem but boss Thomas Christiansen says he is fit to face Birmingham.
Ronaldo Vieira suffered a knock in the 2-1 win at Burton on Boxing Day and will be assessed, while Stuart Dallas could be missing again. Pierre-Michel Lasogga continued his comeback with a 15-minute spell off the bench against the Brewers and is pushing for a start.
Opta stats
Birmingham have won two of their last nine Championship matches against Leeds (D2 L5).
Since losing five consecutive matches at St. Andrew's in all competitions between 2002 and 2011, Leeds have only lost one of their last six matches there, winning four and drawing one.
The Blues' last 12 Championship games have seen them win just once (D3 L8), with that only win coming against Nottingham Forest in November (1-0).
Leeds haven't won their final league match in a calendar year since 2009, when they won 4-2 at Stockport County - they are winless in eight of these games (D4 L4).
Birmingham have scored just 12 league goals this term, while their goals per game ratio is the worst of any team in the Football League (24 games, 12 goals - 0.5 per game).
Thomas Christiansen's side have had five different players contribute 5+ goals in the Championship this term (Roofe, Saiz, Phillips, Alioski and Lasogga); the largest spread of any team.
