Fighting to move into the top two before the November international break, in-form Birmingham City host fellow promotion hopefuls Swansea City at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park on Saturday afternoon.

Blues blitzed past Millwall in the Second City on Tuesday night, whilst the Swans' away-day issues continued, losing late on against a Portsmouth side who are pushing for a playoff position.

Match preview

For the first time since earning promotion to the Premier League in 2008-09, Birmingham City have recorded three consecutive Championship home victories without conceding following Tuesday's battering of Millwall.

Seemingly replacing Tomoki Iwata as Blues' long-range specialist, Alex Cochrane fired in a second thunderbolt in the space of four days to open the scoring against the Lions, with Max Bird and Jay Stansfield also getting on the scoresheet in an impressive first period.

Winning five of their past six second-tier matches, Chris Davies's side have flown up to third spot in the Championship standings, just a single point behind West Midlands rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in second.

Earning his maiden start for Birmingham, summer signing Bird made up for an injury-interrupted opening to his Second City career, starring with a goal and an assist in Tuesday's Millwall demolition.

Blues extended their unbeaten league run at St Andrew's this season to seven matches (W3 D4), with Saturday's hosts winning each of their past three home games by an aggregate scoreline of 10-0.

The surprise leaders at the beginning of the season, Swansea City are enduring their first major dip of a promising promotion charge, with the Welsh outfit losing three of their past four Championship contests.

There was more agony on the road for Vitor Matos's troops on Tuesday night, when added-time goals from Terry Devlin and Thomas Waddingham secured a 3-1 success for Portsmouth at Fratton Park.

Collecting just three points from their most recent quartet of fixtures, Swansea have dropped down to fifth place in the Championship table ahead of this weekend's clash in Birmingham, level on points with Blues.

Scoring the Swans' momentary leveller at Pompey earlier in the week, Zan Vipotnik has experienced a strange start to the season, with last term's Championship Golden Boot winner playing second fiddle to Adam Idah up front.

The Slovenian was a second-half substitute when Swansea and Birmingham clashed at the start of August in South Wales, where a solitary August Priske strike secured first-round EFL Cup progression for Davies's men.

Birmingham City Championship form:

Swansea City Championship form:

Team News

Missing Birmingham's win over Millwall due to a knock, leading goalscorer Priske is a doubt to feature on Saturday afternoon.

Should the Danish marksman be unavailable, Blues should stick with Bird at the 10 position and Stansfield leading the line.

Dael Fry and Paik Seung-ho are nearing a return to action, although first-choice goalkeeper James Beadle is expected to miss out this weekend.

Swansea defender Stephen Welsh was forced off following a nasty collision at Fratton Park, however, the Scot's issue is not as bad as initially feared.

The 26-year-old is still a major doubt to play at Birmingham, though, with Ben Cabango likely to join Jenson Seelt at centre-back.

The Swans will be boosted by the return of attackers Eom Ji-Sung and Moussa Yeo for the Second City trip.

Birmingham City possible starting lineup:

Allsop; Laird, Neumann, Klarer, Cochrane; Solis, Iwata; Roberts, Bird, Millar; Stansfield

Swansea City possible starting lineup:

Vigouroux; Lissah, Seelt, Cabango, Tymon; Franco, Fulton, Stamenic; Opoku, Just, Vipotnik

We say: Birmingham City 1-1 Swansea City

Unbeaten on home soil in the Championship this season, Birmingham are a real force in front of their St Andrew's faithful.

Swansea have struggled massively in recent away matches but should bounce back to claim a point on Saturday.

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