AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth will be hoping to bounce back from their midweek defeat at Sheffield Wednesday when they visit Championship rivals Birmingham City on Saturday (3pm kick-off).
The Cherries’ impressive nine-match unbeaten start to the season bit the dust at Hillsborough as Barry Bannan bagged the only goal for the hosts from the penalty spot.
Birmingham also tasted defeat in midweek as Wycombe Wanderers came from behind to secure a 2-1 victory at St Andrew’s Trillion Trophy Stadium, the Chairboys’ first away win in the second tier.
Despite exiting the Carabao Cup after going down 1-0 to Cambridge United in the first round, Blues beat much-fancied Brentford in their Championship curtain-raiser thanks to Jeremie Bela’s goal.
A hat-trick of draws – against Swansea (0-0), Rotherham (1-1) and Stoke (1-1) – were followed by back-to-back defeats at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday (1-0) and Norwich (1-0).
And while a stalemate against QPR at Loftus Road left them 17th a fortnight ago, 2-1 wins against Huddersfield and Preston hoisted them to 12th before the midweek defeat by Wycombe saw them slip two places.
Ahead of the clash, afcb.co.uk caught up with Richard Wilford who covers the fortunes of Birmingham for BBC West Midlands.
BIRMINGHAM CITY IN PROFILE
Manager: Aitor Karanka (appointed July 2020)
Club captain: Harlee Dean
Last game: Birmingham City 1-2 Wycombe Wanderers (Championship)
Leading goalscorers 2020/21 – 2: Gary Gardner (pictured above), Jeremie Bela (pictured below)
League position: 14th
Past six league results: LLDWWL
afcb.co.uk: How would you sum up City’s start to the season?
RW: You would probably call it solid on the grounds that there was such a lot of change over the course of the summer and Aitor Karanka has been trying to bring in his style of play.
He is inevitably doing it by building from the back and trying to make his team tough to beat.
It’s been a decent start. They had a really good win over Brentford and at Preston last week but you can still see there are plenty of things they’ve got to do. It’s a work in progress.
afcb.co.uk: What’s the general mood among supporters about Aitor Karanka’s tenure so far?
RW: It’s improved quite a bit in the past week-and-a-half apart from the defeat against Wycombe.
I think the concern has been the lack of goals, that’s what’s been frustrating the fans.
Until they got the back-to-back victories against Huddersfield and Preston, that was the biggest worry.
Until Lukas Jutkiewicz scored the winner at Huddersfield, they hadn’t scored a goal from open play this season.
Supporters have received him fairly warmly so far and they know this is meant to be a long-term project. But they would like to see a bit more productivity going forward.
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afcb.co.uk: Who has been the pick of Blues’ 11 summer signings?
RW: There’s a good selection to choose from, there’s no doubt about that!
Everybody who was brought in was brought in with a purpose. The experience of Adam Clayton and George Friend has been vital because they knew Karanka from their days at Middlesbrough.
In Neil Etheridge, they signed as good a Championship goalkeeper as they possibly could have done during the course of the summer.
I’m very excited to see the signing of Jonathan Leko. I think he’s going to be a really thrilling player when he’s fully fit.
But the best signing so far has probably been Ivan Sanchez (pictured below), the Spanish winger. He’s got very good feet and wins a lot of free-kicks. His delivery at set-pieces is terrific and he’s had a very good start to English football.
afcb.co.uk: How do you rate this season’s Championship?
RW: It’s a funny league this year, isn’t it?
I think it has to be related to what we’re all going through with Covid in that there are quite a few teams who are a bit under-cooked and maybe haven’t got the same depth of squad as they might have expected.
The teams that have come down from the Premier League don’t necessarily look like they are going to be dominant, although Norwich look pretty good and have lots of goals in them.
I think it’s an even more unpredictable Championship than usual. Any team that puts a run of results together, like Reading did at the start of the season, will have a good spell.
But I honestly think, right now, that you could make a case for 12 to 15 teams making the play-offs so I think we’ve got a very exciting season ahead.
afcb.co.uk: Are any players either injured or suspended against the Cherries?
RW: Blues will be without Ivan Sunjic who picked up his fifth yellow card against Wycombe on Wednesday.
Adam Clayton is injured and George Friend has a calf problem.
They are a little thin in the key area of central midfield and that will challenge them.
afcb.co.uk: Tell us a little about Mikel San Jose (pictured above)?
RW: He was certainly the most intriguing signing that Blues made this summer. He’s got a wealth of experience having played for Athletic Bilbao in La Liga.
He would have won more international caps had he not been behind Sergio Busquets in the reckoning.
He’s slotted in very well to midfield, in theory, a holding role. He’s got remarkable vision for such a tall guy and a great delivery.
He got a terrific assist for the winner at Preston and is becoming the absolute engine of the Blues’ midfield.
If anything, I think he’s doing a little better than anyone expected because it was a real eye opener when he was signed.
It’s one of the rabbits they pulled out of the hat this summer. Having been given a few weeks to settle before he was brought into the team, he has done incredibly well.
afcb.co.uk: What’s your score prediction?
RW: There haven’t been too many goals in Birmingham City games and the past three have ended 2-1 one way or the other.
Given the recent history of Blues games against Bournemouth, I think they would be very happy to come away with a 1-1 so I’ll say that. Blues have been rather scarred by games against Bournemouth in recent seasons!
You can follow Richard on Twitter – @wilfordwm
Officials: Jarred Gillett (referee), Philip Dermott (assistant), Paul Hodskinson (assistant), Richard Wild (fourth official).
