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Birmingham City have had a strong start to the new season, with victory over Sheffield United in the Carabao Cup following a 1-1 draw at home to Ipswich Town in the Championship.
Blues face Blackburn Rovers this weekend, and EFL Analysis has predicted Chris Davies’ side to pick up all three points at Ewood Park following an excellent win against the Blades at St. Andrew’s on Wednesday evening.
The West Midlands outfit are in the conversation for a top six finish at the very least in the second tier this season, as they look to replicate Ipswich Town’s successive promotions in 2023 and 2024, going from League One to the Premier League in no time at all.
Nevertheless, the Championship is a tough league to get out of, and former Aston Villa man Lee Hendrie, has warned Birmingham to not expect it to all go their way this season.
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Lee Hendrie warns Birmingham City about potential setbacks
Hendrie played 307 times for Villa in his career, but he has told Blues to be prepared if they hit a speed bump at some point this season.
Ahead of their win over Sheffield United, the Sky Sports pundit cast doubt on how Birmingham may cope if they do have a period of struggle. He said (via: Sky Sports): “There looks a good real fear factor, and if things don’t continue going that way in terms of success and winning games, that’s my only thing.
“What hurdle can they get over? They haven’t had the taste of that really. Their last defeat was the Vertu Trophy final.
“How are they going to react when they have a little bit of a [poor] run? They are going to go through a little spell where they’re not getting results, their expectation levels are going to rise and they’re probably going to bring a couple more players in.”
Chris Davies has not had too many tricky spells at Blues
In one aspect, Hendrie is correct, Birmingham have not really entered any rough patches since they were relegated from the Championship in 2024. However, this can also be seen as their winning mentality taking over and pushing them onwards.
Blues’ longest run with victory last season came at the end of October into the start of November, as they failed to win in three successive matches.
But, they followed that with six straight wins – losing only once more in League One as Birmingham romped to the title with a record number of points.
Davies will be keen to ignore the outside noise as his side prepares for Saturday’s clash against Blackburn, with Blues looking for their first three points of the season.