The Blues are very wary of having an Elvis Presley-style Blue Christmas given their recent form, and it seems as though Chris Davies is starting to come under some pressure for the first time in his short managerial career.

One man who knows all about that at Birmingham is Derby boss John Eustace, who is obviously focused on consolidating Derby's play-off challenge.

Check out the latest Football Tips for this week's matches, as well as the latest Birmingham v Derby Betting Stats.

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📈 Birmingham v Derby Form & Stats

I have been very conflicted about Birmingham this season, from being a doubter pre-season, to believing their underlying numbers would eventually bring them to the promotion race, to now wondering whether they are, in fact, something of a one-trick pony who struggle to change the flow of matches that don't go their way.

It is no-win in four, and three defeats in those matches, and a run like that will always make your position in the Championship look bad. They are currently in 14th, and whilst they are 3rd in the expected points table, that holds very little weight with supporters who have their sights set on the Premier League.

Derby have put themselves into a position of mid-table security, and now that relegation is a dim and distant prospect, they are very much looking up. They drew 1-1 at home to Portsmouth last time out, which would probably be classed as a poor result for them given their goals, but they were able to come back from an early concession; in truth, didn't do enough to secure the win.

That made it three without defeat, but their eight wins, seven draws, and seven losses scream midtable. They are actually still outperforming their performance data, where they sit in 16th, but this has improved dramatically from the early season, when Derby looked like one of the worst teams in the league.

📔 Birmingham v Derby Formation & Team News

We know how Davies likes to set his teams up, and perhaps this is part of the issue. The Tomoki Iwata experiment at right-back that initially looked all up-side has now been found out, and he looks vulnerable defensively. Goals have dried up somewhat, with only three in their last four, albeit home has been the place for goals for them.

Full-back is definitely a problem slot for Birmingham. Ethan Laird, Lee Buchanan, and Alex Cochrane have injuries, and Bright Osayi-Samuel is away at AFCON. It is likely that the Iwata experiment will continue here.

Derby have been using a 3-4-2-1 shape, but they will still be missing their top scorer and talisman, Carlton Morri, whos took on that central striking role.

The adaptation has been to use a more flexible system up front, with fit-again Rhian Brewster providing a foil to more physical forwards in Patrick Agyemang and Ben Brereton. All three are flexible enough to be able to play all of the forward roles well, and that causes headaches to the opposition.

David Ozoh and Lewis Travis are still expected to miss out on the starting XI here for the Rams. Max Johnston is another first teamer that is out for this one.

🔮 Football Predictions at Andy's Bet Club

You can keep up with the latest Sports Betting Tips, including EFL Football Predictions for the week's fixtures.

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Player prop and goals bettors will enjoy our BTTS Acca, Over 2.5 Goals Tips, Score or Assist Tips, Shots Predictions, and Player Fouls Tips.

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