Birmingham look to leverage transfer speculation against leaky Fulham
Birmingham City and Fulham are in that hinterland between mid-table and the relegations; a worrying position - but not yet threatening.
Birmingham will be putting out transfer feelers right now looking to improve the squad in key areas. Blues have 10 goals from 12 games and the focus will surely be to add a little extra creativity to create chances - and a little more deadliness in front of goal. No-one amongst the front six will feel entirely comfortable and it could well spur them on to better performances to justify their positions. Some more pace in the middle of the park would be helpful, although a possible end to Barry Ferguson's international estrangement may put a spring in his step. Birmingham could well use transfer speculation as a performance lever.
Fulham are safely tucked away in mid-table but it is over a month since the last clean sheet in any competition - a record that Roy Hodgson will have been addressing in training. Recent results have been pretty good, the win against Liverpool was most noteworthy, but Fulham deserved better than just one point in the two Europa League games against Roma - which is another mark of their progress. Fulham have scored in all eight games since a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in September - and will expect a result if that sequence is continued here.
Birmingham City vs Fulham; Kick Off 3:00pm 21 Nov 2009
Prediction Panel
Our panel contains both Squarefootball writers and readers, the writers are marked: (sqf).
Dave Blackburn : 0 - 0
Chris Cox : TBC
Graham Enwright : 1 - 2
Sue Gardener : TBC
Chris Goodwin : 0 - 1
Paul Grech (sqf) : TBC
Colin Illingworth (sqf) : 2 - 1
Hugh Larkin (sqf) : TBC
Peter Lee : TBC
Don McMahon : 2 - 1
Antony Melvin (sqf) : 1 - 0
Paul O'Meara (sqf) : 2 - 2
Dave Nash : 1 - 0
Stephen Orford (sqf) : TBC
Tony Ratton : 1 - 0
Peter Rendle : 0 - 1
Dan Taylor : 2 - 2
Andy Wakeman : 1 - 0
Isaac Williams : TBC
Mark Williams : TBC
Panel Verdict
The panel is split, but currently expects Birmingham to edge a low scoring game 1-0.
Home: 6; Draw: 3; Away: 3; TBC: 8.
* Do we have it right, or do you know better? Please don't bother with derisory comments on the predictions after the match - unless you also pulled us up before it!
