Birmingham v West Brom: In-form Baggies difficult to dismiss

• Will Corberan still be in charge amid Leeds link?

• Eustace's Blues win it at the death

• Baggies sail into top six

Eustace hails Blues character

Birmingham ended their run of five straight Championship defeats as Auston Trusty's 97th-minute header won a remarkable 4-3 thriller at Swansea last Saturday.

Blues led through Scott Hogan's penalty before goals by Joel Piroe and Liam Cullen put Swansea in front; Tahith Chong equalised for City before John Ruddy's error put the hosts back ahead.

But Lukas Jutkiewicz's brave diving header levelled proceedings in the dying embers of the match before Birmingham found a remarkable winner.

Seven minutes into stoppage-time, Trusty headed home Hannibal Mejbri's corner in front of the ecstatic away supporters to lift Blues up to 18^th in the standings, eight points clear of safety.

Post-match, head coach John Eustace hailed his team's character. He said, "I always said there would be some ups and downs this season, but the one thing we have in that dressing room is fighting spirit. We could so easily have thrown the towel in after that third goal. I'm so proud of the boys. We battled and tactically, in the second half, we got it spot on."

Eustace must now decide whether to persist with the more attack-minded 4-2-3-1 that inspired the Swansea comeback or return to the team's more familiar 5-3-2 system.

Harlee Dean isn't quite fit enough to feature, whilst left-back remains a problem position for Birmingham. Elsewhere, on-loan forward Reda Khadra looks set to miss out through injury.

West Brom move back into the top-six

Grady Diangana's first-half strike proved enough to settle a frantic Championship match-up as West Brom edged past Coventry 1-0 to move back into the top-six.

The former West Ham winger bundled in Jed Wallace's flick-on as Carlos Corberan's outfit avenged their 1-0 defeat by the Sky Blues just before Christmas and maintain their impressive recent form.

The Baggies were roared on by their third best home gate of the season and declared deserving winners, their sixth straight success at The Hawthorns - all without conceding a goal - equalling their best home return in 45 years.

But Albion were made to work hard for the points by a resilient Coventry side who always carried a threat of their own.

Corberan's hosts, featuring new loan recruit Marc Albrighton from the off, were electric early on and the Baggies boss pleased with his side's efforts. He said, "The level of commitment, personality and concentration was very high. We try to be aggressive in defence and try to play with a lot of personality in attack and be dominant. And we were."

David Button was called in between the sticks for the injured Alex Palmer and played his part in the important win.

Albrighton enjoyed an eye-catching debut and there was also a Baggies bow for Nathaniel Chalobah, signed from Fulham on deadline day.

Tom Rogic and Taylor Gardner-Hickman were left out of the matchday 18 due to selection reasons.

Albion fair favourites at St Andrew's

Fixtures between Birmingham and West Brom have tended to be competitive this century.

The two West Midlands outfits have met 25 times in league action across the top-two tiers with an almost even W8-D9-L9 record that favours the Baggies.

However, Blues have won each of the last two tussles, including a 3-2 success at The Hawthorns back in September.

Birmingham 3.8514/5 bagged only their second Championship win since Bonfire Night last weekend (W2-D2-L6) in dramatic circumstances, ending a rotten five-game losing streak.

Blues haven't been at their best at St Andrew's (W4-D5-L6); only four sides have earned fewer home points and City are yet to beat a top-half team at home this term.

West Brom 2.1211/10 have undergone a stunning revival since Carlos Corberan took charge at the end of October.

The Baggies have posted W10-D0-L3 to charge into the play-off positions with Albion also boasting the second-best Expected Goals (xG) process over the last 12 rounds.

However, WBA's aforementioned three losses have all arrived on the road.

https://betting.betfair.com/predictions/match/birmingham-city-vs-west-bromwich-albion/956212/

Goals undervalued on Friday?

Birmingham's fixtures are featuring 2.47 goals per-game on average this season, although nine of the Blues' last 11 Championship clashes have all crossed the Over 2.5 Goals 2.1011/10 barrier.

Five of those encounters produced a minimum of four strikes with those 11 dates averaging a bulbous 3.55 goals and an Expected Goals (xG) average of 3.04 xG.

Only four of West Brom's overall 13 second-tier showdowns under Carlos Corberan have paid out for Over 2.5 Goals backers, but three of those instances arrived on the road for the Baggies.

Albion have conceded in four of their six such road trips and managed to get on the scoresheet themselves on five occasions, suggesting goals could well be on the agenda here.

With that in-mind, I'm happy to take Over 1.5 Goals alongside West Brom Double Chance for a 1.738/11 shot on the Bet Builder.

We'll return profit on any score draw, or a West Brom win that involves the visitors notching two goals or more; only a Birmingham triumph or a 0-0 stalemate downs Friday night's selection.