At the rate they are going, Birmingham City will be definite survivors in their first season after promotion come end of season. Four successive wins in the premier league coupled by the fact that they are unbeaten in seven is near champions form and Alex McCleish must be the happiest in manager in the league now. One of the very key attributes of Birminham City is that they do place a great deal of emphasis on defence, that is why they do keep quite a high number of clean sheets. In total, they have now kept a total of four clean sheets in their last six, which must be frightening for Blackburn Rovers, who are not the best travellers around.

Sam Aalladyce's rugged style of football usually works the best at Ewood Park and away from home, they are not as productive as they should be. They may have drawn their last four in all competitions, but as visitors, they have lost heavily to Chelsea 5-0 and Arsenal 6-2. They are ranked eighteenth in the away table and the sleek passing in the Birmingham players would ultimately breach the visitors defence, even though I believe the home side will only win by a single goal margin.

Pick: Birmingham @2.38