Can Birmingham disrupt their rival’s lone Wolves status at the top of the Championship?

The Championship finds itself in something of a West Midlands sandwich at the moment. Victory on Monday night would see 1st place Wolves extend their lead to 7 points on 2nd place Cardiff, and 10 on 3rd and 4th place Bristol and Sheffield United. For the Blues, however, a win or draw would drag them out of the relegation zone, swapping places with Bolton.



Nuno Espirito Santo has done wonders at Wolves since joining at the end of May. For the past 2 seasons Molineux’s finest had lurked in the lower half of the table, finishing in 14th and 15th; now, at the half way point of the 2016/17, they are on track to return to the Premier League for the first time since 2012.

They’ve won 14 of their 19 Championship games, including the last 5 consecutive fixtures (a period that has seen 15 goals scored and just 2 conceded). Wolves even forced Manchester City to penalties in the EFL Cup 4th round, holding off the likes of Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling for 120 minutes before suffering a spot-kick exit.

Santo did some savvy business in the summer transfer window, with loanees Diogo Jota (from Atletico Madrid) and Leo Bonatini (from Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal) proving to be integral to Wolves’ newfound success. Bonatini is the club’s top scorer with 11 goals, and has a Super Mega PGM of 39-46, while Jota, who has 9 goals, is at 24-29.

Birmingham, on the other hand, are in their 2nd consecutive relegation battle, having narrowly avoided the drop last season. Things were so bad that they gave Harry Redknapp – who only joined the Blues back in April – the boot in mid-September, replacing him with Steve Cotterill at the start of October.

Yet the former Bristol boss hasn’t been able to do much since arriving at St Andrew’s. Cotterill has 2 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses – better than under Redknapp, but not enough for the Blues to feel comfortable heading into Christmas.

One of the very (very) few bright spots has been Che Adams, who with 5 goals is Birmingham’s top scorer. Adams heads into Monday’s derby at a Super Mega PGM of 14-18, trailing Lukas Jutkiewicz at 16-20 despite the fact that the 28-year old only has only found the back of the net once this season.

The Blues aren’t really in the position to avoid their visitors’ bite, with Spreadex offering a Wolves/Birmingham (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.75-0.95 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.35-2.55.