Birmingham entering lion's den at Old Trafford
- By Drew Swainston on January 21, 2011 18:20 GMT
Birmingham City will be looking to continue on from their improved showing in the Midlands derby last weekend but face a huge challenge at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Alex McLeish's side drew 1-1 with Aston Villa at St Andrews but many fans were impressed by the performance put in, especially from debutant David Bentley, and they were unlucky to keep all three points.
Birmingham are sitting only one point ahead of the Premier League relegation places but they have draw 11 of their 21 matches and performances have suggested they should be sitting higher in the table.
The history books are not on their side for the trip to Manchester United however as Birmingham have not beaten Saturday's opponents since 1978 – but they did get a controversial last-gasp goal to secure a 1-1 draw at St Andrews over Christmas and are 16/1 outsiders to get a win at Old Trafford.
McLeish has been dealt a big blow with the news that key central defender Scott Dann will miss the rest of the season as he needs surgery to repair his torn hamstring.
Liam Ridgewell will continue to take his place but Birmingham need to improve their defensive capability on the road as they have won only once on their travels all season, which is not a promising statistic as United have only dropped two points at Old Trafford all season.
Striker Cameron Jerome is also set to be absent for Blues, which leads to the question of where the goals are going to come from. He is likely to be replaced by either the unproven Nikola Zigic or the ageing legs of Kevin Philips, neither of whom are likely to see the United defence quaking in their boots.
Birmingham have drawn four of their last seven games and their best tactic could be to turn up at Old Trafford and 'park the bus' as they look for a draw – priced at 11/2 with bookmakers. In all of McLeish's battles with Sir Alex Ferguson there has never been more than one goal between the teams.
The wrong set of results could see Birmingham sitting in the relegation places come the end of the weekend, but even the staunchest of Blues fans would not expect to come back from Old Trafford with points.
