West Bromwich Albion are back in Sky Bet Championship action this Saturday afternoon, welcoming Tony Mowbray's Birmingham City to The Hawthorns for a second successive tussle with a local rival (ko 3pm).
The Baggies will be keen to deliver a positive response to last weekend's loss at home to Wolves in the Emirates FA Cup and have their sights set on a first victory over the side from St. Andrew's since October 2021.
Visitors Blues suffered a 3-0 defeat at Championship leaders Leicester City in the fourth round of the FA Cup in their most recent match - the first setback of Mowbray's tenure.
Birmingham won the reverse fixture 3-1 in the second city back in October, with John Swift on the scoresheet for Carlos Corberán's men.
Follow the fixture live
Supporters can listen to live audio commentary of the Baggies' encounter with the Blues.
Gez Mulholland and former Baggie Andy Johnson will provide live commentary from The Hawthorns, with coverage starting at 2.50pm.
Audio passes are available to purchase here.
Details for video streaming on WBA TV will be available here from Thursday afternoon onwards.
Supporters are kindly asked to direct any questions or complaints about WBA TV or WBA Radio to wbatvsupport@streamamg.com.
The club are unable to answer queries about WBA TV or WBA Radio sent to fans@wbafc.co.uk or myalbion@wbafc.co.uk.
Regular updates will also be posted across the club's social media channels throughout the day.
The opponents
Birmingham City arrive at The Hawthorns on Saturday afternoon hoping to secure a fifth successive victory over Albion.
Blues, the Sky Bet Championship team with the current longest spell at this level (13 years), are hoping to drag themselves further away from the wrong end of the division having suffered a really poor run of results under former boss Wayne Rooney since beating the Baggies in early October.
This weekend's guests went fifth after their 3-1 triumph over Carlos Corberán's team on October 6, but won just two more league games between then and January 20, plunging them from the top five to the bottom five.
Tony Mowbray, the man who won the Championship title with West Bromwich Albion in 2007/08, replaced the ex-England striker in the dugout and has gone on to claim two wins and a draw from his first four matches in charge.
They've added fresh faces to the squad in January and they'll be confident of increasing the seven-point gap which currently separates themselves and the relegation zone in the coming weeks and months.
One to remember
The Albion won a five-goal thriller at home to Birmingham City in March 2019.
Gary Gardner's header put the away side in front at the break, but Dwight Gayle's header brought the scores back to level terms inside two minutes of the restart.
Blues nudged ahead once again when Lukas Jutkiewicz scored the game's third headed goal.
However, the Baggies found a way to turn the contest around and Jay Rodriguez's penalty, followed by Jake Livermore's thunderous effort, secured all three Sky Bet Championship points.
Supporters can watch the highlights below.
The last five
Birmingham City 3-1 Albion
October 6 2023, Sky Bet Championship
.
Birmingham City 2-0 Albion
February 10 2023, Sky Bet Championship
.
Albion 2-3 Birmingham City
September 14 2022, Sky Bet Championship
.
Birmingham City 1-0 Albion
April 3 2022, Sky Bet Championship
.
Albion 1-0 Birmingham City
October 15 2021, Sky Bet Championship
Did you know?
Tony Mowbray will be taking charge of his ninth fixture as a manager against West Bromwich Albion.
The 60-year-old has won two, drawn three and lost three in the eight previous encounters with the Baggies.
As Albion manager, Mowbray won 57, drew 32 and lost 51 of his 140 games in charge in all competitions.
Ticket details
Tickets are on sale to season ticket holders, members and supporters with a previous booking history on the database for Albion’s Sky Bet Championship fixture against Birmingham City.
Seats are priced £28 adults, £23 seniors, £17 for supporters aged 20-25, £12 for supporters aged 17-19 and just £5 under-17s.
An adult disabled supporter ticket is priced £18 and includes free access for a personal assistant.
Tickets can be purchased online, in-person from the East Stand Ticket Office or by calling 0121 227 2227.
When buying online, supporters will need to be logged into their My Albion account linked to their ticketing ID. Click here for instructions.
Please note, Baggies fans purchasing online and opting to use the 'WBA Tickets On The Go' app will not pay any additional fees, while supporters who opt to purchase match tickets in-person or choose to collect from the club’s ticket office will be charged a £1.75 transaction fee.
Fan Zone
The Fan Zone will be open on Saturday afternoon ahead of the game.
Fan Zone details will be confirmed here at the earliest possible opportunity.
Travel information
Transport for West Midlands have provided the following information.
What is happening?
ASLEF, the trade union representing train drivers, has announced strike action on Saturday, February 3.
There are no West Midlands Trains or Avanti services operating that day.
Metro services are operating as normal.
What should you do?
Plan ahead and allow more time for your journey.
Metro is expected to be more crowded than normal during 13:00 –16:30 and parking at Wednesbury Parkway and Black Lake will be busier than normal.
Buses are expected to experience increased passenger volume, in particular National Express service 74. Please retime your journey.
To help plan your journey please visit the Journey planner and follow us on #TransportforWM or #WM Roads.
To help plan your journey please visit How to get to West Bromwich Albion Football Ground
For your information, Metro will be making announcements at stops like last week and passengers can always press the customer assistance buttons for information.
