Birmingham City v Preston North End likely line-ups, key men, the referee and all you need to know ahead of Saturday's Championship clash

Tom Barkhuizen battles with Jacques Maghoma during last year's game between the sides at St Andrew's

From likely line-ups to key men and the referee, all you need to know about this weekend's Championship clash can be found below.

Likely line-ups

PNE: Rudd, Clarke, Storey, Huntington, Earl, Pearson, Gallagher, Barkhuizen, Browne, Barker, Moult.

Birmingham: Camp, Colin, Dean, Morrison, Pedersen, Mahoney, G Gardner, Kieftenbeld, Maghoma, Adams, Jutkiewicz

Key men

Alan Browne: Last season’s player of the year is the man of the moment once again. After returning to the side with goals against Blackburn and Middlesbrough, Browne will be tasked with being North End’s driving force at St Andrew’s on Saturday.

Lukas Jutkiewicz: The former Middlesbrough and Burnley man forms a fine partnership with Che Adams at the head of the Birmingham attack. He is the leading scorer for the Blues in the Championship with 10 goals, including four in his last six games.

In the home dugout

Garry Monk: The 39-year-old landed the Birmingham job in March, taking over Steve Cotterill. Monk’s managerial career started at Swansea for who he had made more than 250 appearances as a player. He guided the Swans to Premier League safety as caretaker boss in 2014, which got him the job permanently. The Welsh club finished eighth in 2014/15. He was sacked in December 2015, going on to manage Leeds for the 2016/17 season and was then in charge of Middlesbrough for six months last season.

The referee

David Webb: The County Durham referee will take charge of Preston’s clash with Birmingham City at St Andrew’s. Mr Webb was in the middle for North End’s 2-0 defeat at Derby County in August, that his first time he had officiated a PNE game for more than three seasons. Saturday’s game will be the 15th he has refereed this term, 12 of those being in the Championship. On Wednesday night Mr Webb was in charge of Ipswich’s clash with Bristol City at Portman Road.

This week in PNE history

55 years ago: On November 30, 1963, Preston won 2-1 against Portsmouth at Fratton Park. The ‘Black Prince’ Alex Dawson scored both goals.

44 years ago: North End beat Huddersfield 4-0 at Deepdale on November 30, 1974. Player/manager Bobby Charlton found the net, so too Mel Holden (2) and Mike Elwiss.

27 years ago: Goals from John Thomas and Graham Shaw helped PNE to a 2-2 draw with Hull at Boothferry Park on November 30, 1991.

21 years ago: Simon Davey’s goal was enough for Preston to beat Gillingham at home on November 30, 1997.

16 years ago: PNE won 2-1 against Coventry City at Highfield Road on November 30, 2002.Richard Cresswell and Eddie Lewis netted.