Birmingham City play host to Hull City on Friday evening looking for the win which would keep the club in close proximity to the Championship playoff spots.

However, defeat would leave Blues just two points ahead of Hull, despite the Tigers occupying 21st place in the standings.

Match preview

Ahead of facing Burnley on Tuesday, Birmingham had lost just one game in seven, moving the club to within three points of the top six.

However, the Blues were comprehensively outplayed by the leaders, going down by a 3-0 scoreline at Turf Moor to bring John Eustace's side back down to earth.

Although they had beat Reading by a 3-2 scoreline in their previous meeting, conceding two late goals unnecessarily may have dented their confidence ahead of their toughest fixture of the season.

Nevertheless, it is now up to Eustace to get his team back on track, extending a solid home record at St Andrew's with just three defeats coming from 12 games.

Five of the other nine encounters have ended in draws, however, and Birmingham could do with converting more stalemates into victories if they want to be taken seriously as dark horses for promotion.

Their next opponents Hull have won just one of their last eight fixtures in the second tier, ensuring that they remain scrambling to stay out of the bottom three.

That said, the Tigers look far more united under new head coach Liam Rosenior than they have previously this season, and positives can be taken from three successive draws.

Just four goals have been conceded in as many games, and the fact that they still remain with the worst defensive record in the division highlights the level of improvement since Rosenior's arrival.

A statistic which goes under the radar is Hull having collected 11 points from their last five away games in the Championship, and they held promotion candidates Watford to a goalless draw in their most recent fixture on their travels.

Eustace is hopeful that Scott Hogan will be able to return to the squad after illness, and the forward may come into contention for an immediate recall.

Gary Gardner is also pushing to be involved after a spell on the sidelines, but Eustace is unlikely to make many changes despite the defeat at Burnley.

Despite his frustration with the draw against Blackpool on Boxing Day, Rosenior is not expected to overly tinker with his team for this contest.

Lewie Coyle made an impact as a substitute in the previous game and could be restored at right-back, while Dogukan Sinik is pushing to make just his third start in the league this season.

Barring any new fitness issues, the remainder of the side may stay the same as Hull bid to extend their unbeaten run to four games.

Birmingham City possible starting lineup:
Ruddy; Sanderson, Roberts, Trusty; Colin, Bacuna, Bielik, Mejbri, Longelo; Deeney, Chong

Hull City possible starting lineup:
Ingram; Coyle, Jones, McLoughlin, Greaves; Woods, Seri; Sinik, Tufan, Slater; Estupinan

We say: Birmingham City 1-1 Hull City

For different reasons, both sides will not want to end the year with a defeat, particularly Hull who are closer to the bottom three. Taking everything into consideration, we expect a hard-fought competitive draw, one which is unlikely to feature many goals.

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