The last time we met at this level was three seasons ago. On that occasion we drew both games 1-1, and this having gone in front in both games through Chris McCann (home) and Martin Paterson (away).
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| Ross Wallace will return if passed fit |
That season saw both of us promoted to the Premier League, Birmingham as runners up and Burnley through the play offs, but now both of us are back down and ready to do battle again in the second tier.
The pattern of our away games this season suggests a win is on the way. We've alternated between wins and defeats all season and with the last away game ending in a 3-1 defeat at Bristol City then a win would continue that pattern.
It's needed too. Saturday's defeat to Leeds has seen us drop to fourth from bottom in the Championship. It's enough to have the doom mongers believing that relegation is just about a certainty but a win tonight, in this our game in hand, would see us climb to 16th at least and would restore that five point gap between us and the bottom three.
We've turned in some disappointing performances this season, some horror shows too, but if we can go out tonight and play anything like we did against Leeds on Saturday then there is no reason why we can't come home with some points. We need to be a lot better defensively, and that goes without saying, but the performance, other than those defensive slips, was good enough on Saturday.
I can't see the team being much different. At the back, Andre Amougou is, for whatever reason, well and truly out of favour. That was confirmed when he was left out at Bristol City. He did at least make the bench on Saturday whereas Ben Mee, who had been preferred to him at Ashton Gate, watched from the stands.
I don't expect him to bring back either of them and would think the only potential changes will come further up the pitch. We have to make one change and I'm sure Eddie Howe will be hoping that he has the opportunity to make a second.
The definite change will be for Charlie Austin. The 'good' news, if it can be described as such, is he won't be out as long as feared, but it is still a blow to lose Charlie who has been so important to us this season with both his goals and his performances.
Almost certainly that means a first start for Sam Vokes. He arrived on Friday from Wolves on loan and got an hour in as a substitute. He impressed and will almost certainly partner Jay Rodriguez tonight.
The change Howe will hope to make is to bring back Ross Wallace. His is one of the first names on the team sheet now and Saturday was the first game he's missed this season. It was due to feeling a hamstring but he'll be back if passed fit tonight I'm sure.
Keith Treacy did well as his replacement and it is unlikely that he'll make way should Wallace be fit and I would expect the change will see Junior Stanislas, substituted on Saturday, on the bench.
Brian Jensen is another who could come back into contention. He's fit again and back in training but I would think it is more likely we'll retain Jon Stewart on the bench this week with Jensen perhaps returning next week.
If Wallace is fit, I think we could line up: Lee Grant, Kieran Trippier, Michael Duff, David Edgar, Brian Easton, Ross Wallace, Marvin Bartley, Chris McCann, Keith Treacy, Sam Vokes, Jay Rodriguez. Subs from: Jon Stewart, Ben Mee, Andre Amougou, Dean Marney, Junior Stanislas, Zavon Hines, Alex MacDonald.
Our Opponents - Birmingham City
Birmingham are having a strange sort of season brought about by them winning the Carling Cup last season. That's seen them qualify for, and reach the group stages of, the Europa League and as such have already had to postpone no less than four league games due to the clash.
They've already played one of them and tonight's game is another. We should have played this right back in August but they were out in Madeira preparing for a game against Nacional.
Had the game been played on the original date then we could have expected Wade Elliott to be involved for the Clarets, just days after he'd been our best player in the defeat at Crystal Palace. Now, tonight, he could come face to face with his club for the first time.
The last time he played against Burnley was in the FA Cup for Bournemouth in 2005 when he gave our then left back Mo Camara a torrid afternoon.
Wade has been in and out of the Birmingham side but there have been hints this week in the West Midlands that Chris Hughton could give him a start against his old club.
Of course Wade was the goalscorer at Wembley and his captain that day was Steven Caldwell who is almost certain to be in the Birmingham line up. Caldwell joined them in the summer and has settled into the side as a first choice central defender.
Birmingham come into the game in 13th place in the table but with three games in hand on most sides it is difficult to determine where they might be had they not had European football to contend with but it would probably be somewhere around the bottom of the play offs.
They'll be looking to get back to winning ways tonight having dropped two home points to Peterborough on Saturday. Recently they went on a run of six successive wins with four of them in the league, but the draw on Saturday means they haven't won any of their last four games with three draws and one defeat, all but one of the draws coming in the league.
They will go into the game with David Murphy again at left back with Liam Ridgewell ruled out with a thigh injury. Others out include Morgaro Gomis and Jordon Mutch with groin and ankle problems respectively. Gomis is close to returning but Mutch is some weeks away yet.
Birmingham's team for the Peterborough game was: Boaz Myhill, Stephen Carr, David Murphy, Steven Caldwell, Chris Burke, Marlon King, Jean Beausejour (Wade Elliott, 84), Keith Fahey, Jonathan Spector, Curtis Davies, Chris Wood (Nikola Zigic, 71). Subs not used: Colin Doyle, Pablo Ibanez, Guirane N'Daw.
Last Time We Were There
April 2010 and we were preparing to say our farewells to the Premier League. Relegation had been confirmed a week earlier with a home defeat against Liverpool and our trip to Birmingham was our last away game of the season.
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| Steven Thompson got our goal |
We'd lost 16 of the 18 previously so it was probably no surprise that we lost this one too although it was a day of fun for the Burnley fans who travelled. They sang almost non-stop throughout the game and even dared threaten the Premier League that we'd be back.
"Always look on the bright side of life" was belting out from the away end as the final whistle blew with Burnley desperately trying to find an equaliser after coming back from a two goal deficit at the interval.
We started quite well and should have had a penalty which was waved away by the inept Peter Walton, but then we gave away two very soft goals.
The first of them came from a right wing cross when Danny Fox didn't do enough to prevent it. The defenders were static and, just to cap it all, Brian Jensen guided it in for them.
Goal number two wasn't far away. It was almost identical to the first although this time it came from a ridiculously awarded free kick.
"That's why we're going down," cried the Burnley fans which was quickly followed by "Going down and we're having a laugh." The fans were in fine voice and it then became like one of the old music channels on TV as the old repertoire came out.
I never thought I'd here such as 'Eli-Eli-Eli', 'Oooh George Oghani', 'Jimmy Mullen's Claret and Blue Army' or 'Teasdale Out'. again but they were all there.
The fun continued in the second half with the introduction of Kevin McDonald. "Your round," screamed the Burnley fans. McDonald didn't like it and gestured in response in what was his final league game for the Clarets.
Then it all got serious when we scored with the other two substitutes involved. There was some fantastic play from Robbie Blake before Jack Cork played in Steven Thompson to score.
We had a go but it came to nothing and away defeat number 17 was duly recorded. At least in the second half of the season we'd learned to only lose by one goal.
The teams were;
Birmingham: Joe Hart, Stuart Parnaby (Keith Fahey 79), Roger Johnson, Liam Ridgewell, Gregory Vignal, Sebastian Larsson, Lee Bowyer, Barry Ferguson, James McFadden (Michel 67), Cameron Jerome (Lee Carsley 90), Christian Benitez. Subs not used: Maik Taylor, David Murphy, Teemu Tainio, Nathan Redmond.
Burnley: Brian Jensen, Tyrone Mears, Leon Cort, Steven Caldwell, Danny Fox, Graham Alexander (Kevin McDonald 85), Wade Elliott, Jack Cork, Martin Paterson, Steven Fletcher (Steven Thompson 68), David Nugent (Robbie Blake 65). Subs not used: Nicky Weaver, Michael Duff, Andre Bikey, Jay Rodriguez.
And not many of those players will be on view tonight.
Previous Games against Birmingham City
| Last 20 Years | |||||
| Season | Comp | Ven | Res | Att | Scorers |
| 2000/01 | Division 1 | a | 2-3 | 19,641 | Cox, Weller |
| h | 0-0 | 17,057 | |||
| 2001/02 | Division 1 | a | 3-2 | 18,426 | Little (2), I Moore |
| h | 0-1 | 13,504 | |||
| 2006/07 | Championship | h | 1-2 | 12,889 | McCann |
| a | 1-0 | 28,777 | Spicer | ||
| 2008/09 | Championship | h | 1-1 | 13,809 | McCann |
| a | 1-1 | 16,763 | Paterson | ||
| 2009/10 | Premier League | h | 2-1 | 20,102 | Fletcher, Bikey |
| a | 1-2 | 24,578 | Thompson | ||
Click HERE to see all previous results against Birmingham City