Birmingham City continued their impressive climb up the table and bounced back from a stinging defeat to their local rivals last weekend with a comfortable win over Millwall on Wednesday night.
Garry Monk’s side return to St. Andrews after two away matches in four days when they host a resurgent Preston North End team.
It will be a difficult contest for Birmingham, and equally for the Lancashire club this weekend who are unbeaten in their last nine league fixtures.
Monk’s men, meanwhile, have a similar record having lost twice in their last ten, picking up five wins.
The Blues will need to be at their best if they are to enjoy being at home and make it back-to-back wins for the first time in four matches.
A team will be selected to be able to cope with the threats that Alex Neil’s side possess.
With that said, this Birmingham XI could well bring Preston’s resurgence to a halt when the two teams meet tomorrow afternoon.
Lee Camp, in truth, had nothing to do against Millwall on Tuesday night other than making a quick double save from a free-kick in the second half.
It was a routine performance and one that will see him retain his place on Saturday.
The ever-dependable right-back is a player who is the consummate professional and has been one of Birmingham’s more consistent performers this season.
Captain and goalscorer, Michael Morrison added the second in Wednesday’s win over Millwall and will be looking to keep his performance levels up this weekend against Preston.
Handled everything that Millwall’s strong, physical front line had to throw at him and when they changed tack and went with the ball on the floor a little more, Harlee Dean dealt with that too.
The Birmingham ever-present put on a solid display last time out and has been pretty consistent all season, a good week for the defender who scored in the Second City derby at the weekend before helping the Blues to a comfortable win over Millwall.
Fantastic in the first-half against Millwall on Wednesday, but a lot quieter in the second, it will be up to him to try and go out against Preston at the weekend and be more consistent as he has been for much of the season.
A rock in the Birmingham midfield, he has been a reliable soul to Garry Monk, and there is every expectation that he continues in his role this weekend.
The subject of a rash challenge for Millwall’s Ryan Leonard on Wednesday, the midfield recovered to be a solid start in the win at The Den.
If he can take that performance into the weekend, Birmingham have every chance of getting back-to-back wins.
Back to his best, and a real nuisance on Wednesday evening.
Having been out for so long, Jacques Maghoma is like a new signing, and if he can torment the Preston defence as he did Millwall’s, then Birmingham could well halt the progress of Alex Neil’s side.
Struggled to assert himself somewhat on Wednesday after his dominant run and shot ended up in the back of the net via an own goal.
That was his only real contribution of note, and Che Adams will be looking to improve on that performance this weekend.
Other than winning his aerial duels, Lukas Jutkiewicz struggled to offer much in midweek and will be hoping to learn from that and go again on Saturday looking to halt the rise of Preston and continue his side's good run of form.