By Betsefy
Aiming to extend their beaten start to life back in the Championship, Watford visit St Andrew’s on Tuesday, where they meet Birmingham City.
While the Hornets have won two of their first three matches, conceding only one goal, Blues are looking to bounce back from a weekend defeat to Cardiff.
Match preview
Watford manager Rob Edwards has a handful of absentees to contend with on Tuesday, as Hassane Kamara must serve a suspension following his red card on Friday, while two players have left the club and others are out injured.
Midfield pair Tom Dele-Bashiru and Imran Louza remain sidelined by long-term knee injuries, and Nigerian forward Samuel Kalu will not return from a hamstring problem until next month. His countryman Emmanuel Dennis has joined Nottingham Forest’s revolution for £20m, and centre-back Samir recently signed for Tigres UANL.
Nonetheless, new arrivals Keinan Davis – on loan from Birmingham’s arch-rivals Aston Villa – and former Barcelona striker Rey Manaj provide competition for Joao Pedro up front, and Hamza Choudhury should start in midfield after a positive debut against Burnley.
Meanwhile, Birmingham boss John Eustace only made one change to his lineup last time out, with Ryan Woods being replaced by teenager Alfie Chang, and he is likely to retain most of his starting XI again, despite defeat to Cardiff.
The hosts should feature John Ruddy in goal, and a midfield three of Chang, Juninho Bacuna and Jordan James, while captain Troy Deeney is partnered by Scott Hogan up front.
Birmingham City possible starting lineup:
Ruddy; Sanderson, Roberts, Trusty; Colin, James, Chang, Bacuna, Placheta; Hogan, Deeney
Watford possible starting lineup:
Bachmann; Gaspar, Cathcart, Sierralta, Sema; Kayembe, Choudhury; Sarr, Cleverley, Pedro; Davis
Our Prediction
Over 1.5 Goals
