Birmingham City's league form will be a worry for them but opportunity for Preston North End

The Blues were a side that plenty will have tipped to be in trouble this season and despite some dreadful form of late, they are currently six points above the drop zone with better goal difference to boot.

They were venturing into the unknown somewhat when they appointed John Eustace in the summer and the Solihull-born boss will still be learning as he goes along.

Birmingham were the first team to both score and beat PNE this season, as Maxime Colin scored the only goal of the game at Deepdale back in September. It was the eighth game of the season but PNE were yet to concede going into the game, Jordan Graham’s cross to the far post finding the run of the full back Colin ruined that.

Birmingham have strengthened this month, bringing in Reda Khadra on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion as well as Kevin Long after over a decade at Burnley.

Khadra set up the winning goal for Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park last season against PNE and after a frustrating spell at Sheffield United where he didn’t play much, he’s hit the ground running in the Midlands, already netting his first goal.

He is not the only threat that Birmingham possess however with a formidable forward line containing Troy Deeney and Lukas Jutkiewicz who are both capable of roughing up any defence in the division. Tahith Chong and Hannibal Mejbri, both former Manchester United starlets, with the latter currently on loan, are capable of providing the spark and trickery that the home side might use to their advantage as well.

The biggest issue right now for Birmingham is their form, losing each of their last four league games. They have conceded 11 times in those four games but thankfully for them have only dropped three places and remain only one point worse off in relation to the relegation places.

There’s a shorter turnaround for the hosts this week compared to PNE, with City in FA Cup action as they were forced into a replay with Forest Green Rovers on Tuesday night.

Despite going a goal down, the Championship side made their superiority count and booked their place in the FA Cup fourth round, like PNE, and they will play Blackburn in the next round.

It put an end to their torrid run of form, albeit a cup game, and that is a positive that boss Eustace is taking from the game.

He said: "It showed after four defeats in a row, 1-0 down at half time at a difficult place to come, it shows real determination, character and grit with the boys.

"We've been on a bad run but the boys have a great attitude and desire as I've said on many occasions, to play for this football club and make the fans proud of them.

"We all want to make the fans proud of our performances. We've come through a real difficult moment and hopefully it can kickstart us on.”