BIRMINGHAM'S season seems to have been cursed by the bam who raced on to the pitch to throw a punch at Aston Villa's Jack Grealish.
It was karma that Grealish slammed home a derby winner after that idiotic attack and I had a wry smile after backing the midfielder to get on the scoresheet.
Two more defeats followed the derby loss but the punishment wasn't finished yet for City and their campaign was plunged into chaos when the club were docked nine points for breaching financial rules.
Birmingham went into derby with faint hopes of reaching the play-offs but now sit just five points above the drop zone, making it a nervous end to the campaign.
They need to get some points on the board to ease those fears but it's hard to see them getting anything from the Hawthorns. And with games against high-flying Leeds and Sheffield United up next, it could start to get very anxious for Blues fans at the bottom.
West Brom are fighting at the other end of the table and caretaker boss Jimmy Shan has a perfect record since taking over from Darren Moore, winning his first two games against Swansea and Brentford.
The Baggies board rightly came in for criticism after harshly sacking Moore with the team still in with a great chance of winning promotion.
It's still unclear if Shan will remain in charge until the end of the season, with the club apparently taking things on a game-by-game basis, but another win over Birmingham will certainly boost his chances.
The Baggies are sweating on the fitness of Kieran Gibbs, Matt Phillips and Tosin Adarabioyo while Birmingham have doubts over defender Maxime Colin as he continues to recover from a hamstring problem.
It was 1-1 when these sides met in Birmingham earlier in the season but I can see West Brom adding to the troubles at St Andrews. They are a best 9/10 with Bet Victor but try doubling it with both teams to score, which boosts the odds to 29/10 with the same firm.
Birmingham have drawn a blank in their last four games but this is a derby and the big occasion should see them end the scoring drought.
Che Adams remains their greatest threat and he's a generous 7/1 to break the deadlock with Boylesports and a safer 47/20 with Unibet for anytime scorer.
Jay Rodriguez has been in fine form for West Brom and is worth consideration at 8/5 with Bet 365 in the anytime scorer market. For a longer-odds option try former Celtic midfielder Stefan Johansen who is 23/5 with Unibet in the same market.
Derbies can often take a while to get going, so another decent option is the second period being the highest-scoring half, which is 23/20 with Marathonbet.
This England Championship match between West Brom and Birmingham City will be played on Mar 29, 2019 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best West Brom vs Birmingham City prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
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