One of England's biggest derby's returns on Sunday as Birmingham clash with Aston Villa in the Championship with local pride at stake.

Gary Rowett's Birmingham have made the much better start, but the 2-0 defeat to Burton last Friday leaves them 7th and Aston Villa are trimming away at their deficit after a poor start.

Villa appointed Di Matteo after a change in ownership and he splashed the cash on Jonathan Kodjia and Albert Adomah as they looked for an instant return to the Premier League.

Despite the embarrassment of riches up front, Villa struggled at the back and found themselves in the bottom 3 leading to Steve Bruce taking Di Matteo's place as manager.

Under him they have won their last two games including a 2-1 win at Reading, which was their first away win of the year and they now just trail Birmingham by 6 points.

Here are THREE reasons Aston Villa will beat Birmingham on Sunday.....

 

Momentum

Villa certainly have the form heading into Sunday's game with 2 wins in a row, and they are undefeated under new manager Steve Bruce.

The 2-1 win at Reading was ground-breaking for them as it was their first away win of 2016 and the win over Fulham was their first win since early August.

Also Birmingham have showed a lot of inconsistency and have lost 2 of their last 3 games including surprise defeats to Burton and Nottingham Forest.

Bruce will set Villa up to win and with spirits raised by their form, the Blues will struggle to beat them.

Firepower

When you look at the options up front for both sides Aston Villa certainly trump Birmingham.

Birmingham have added Lukas Jutkiewicz to a striker department with Clayton Donaldson and Greg Stewart.

But with Villa having Gestede, Ayew, Kodjia and McCormack they will be dangerous with the new found confidence and will give a lot of trouble to the Birmingham defence.

Recent record

With Steve Bruce now in charge Villa will be much better at the back as the clean sheet against free scoring Fulham showed.

But also Birmingham have struggled to beat Villa in recent years with just 1 win in their last 10 meetings, with Villa winning 7 of them including the most recent one last year when they were at their worst.

Whatever happens it is bound to be a thoroughly entertaining clash as it's the first league clash in 5 years.

Thoughts and opinions Birmingham and Villa fans? Predictions? Leave comments below!