Leeds United vs Birmingham City Match Preview

Russ Vernon takes a look at Leeds United's latest Championship clash at home to Birmingham City.

SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP | Venue: Elland Road | Date: Saturday, 03 October | Kick-off: 15:00 BST| Coverage: Listen on BBC local radio, BBC Radio 5 Live, highlights on channel 5 at 9pm.

TEAM NEWS
Leeds United will welcome Will Buckley into his squad for the clash with Birmingham City on Saturday. Buckley will complete his loan signing from Sunderland on Friday having been training with Leeds for the past week.

Head coach Uwe Rosler will give a late fitness test to Chris Wood. The striker missed the defeat at Middlesbrough last week and Rosler says he is making progress. "We knew that Chris Wood was missing last week and he`s improving," Rosler told the Leeds official website . "We`ll see where he is tomorrow." Rosler may make changes to his side following the 3-0 defeat at Middlesbrough with Liam Cooper expected to come back into the defence.

Tommaso Bianchi remains on the sidelines through injury.

Birmingham boss Gary Rowett has a nice selection headache ahead of the trip to Leeds. Jonathan Spector, Jon Toral and Jacques Maghoma rested in midweek as the blues won 2-0 at Brentford. Paul Robinson and David Davis will hope to retain their place after starting at Brentford.

Striker Andrew Shinnie missed the trip to Griffin Park with a hamstring injury and he will be assessed ahead of the game. Rowett is not expected to include new signing Emmanuel Mbende in his squad. The young defender signed in the week on a deal until the end of the season after being released by German side Borussia Dortmund at the end of last season

MATCH STATS

Last 5 home games for Leeds:
2/5/15: Rotherham [D, 0-0]
8/8/15: Burnley [D, 1-1]
22/8/15: Sheffield Wednesday [D, 1-1]
12/9/15: Brentford [D, 1-1]
15/9/15: Ipswich [L 0-1]

Last 5 away games for Birmingham:
2/5/15: Bolton [W 0-1]
15/8/15: Burnley [D 2-2]
19/8/15: MK Dons [W 0-2]
18/9/15: Ipswich [D 1-1]
29/9/15: Brentford [W 0-2]

Last 5 Meetings:
20/4/13: Birmingham 1-0 Leeds
20/10/13: Leeds 4-0 Birmingham
25/4/14: Birmingham 1-3 Leeds
13/9/14: Birmingham 1-1 Leeds 
17/1/15: Leeds 1-1 Birmingham

Match Officials:
Referee: Paul Tierney
Assistants: Shaun Hudson and Anthony Tankard
Fourth Official: Sebastian Stockbridge

By Russ Vernon