Birmingham City v Leeds: Preview, Schedule, and How to Watch the Championship Online

Match: Birmingham City v Leeds United

Date: 6 April 2019

Time: 15.00 BST, 10.00 EDT, 11.00 ART

Venue: St Andrews, Birmingham, England

Television: beIN Sports 2 in Australia, SportsMax 2 in the Caribbean, Fox Sports 1 in Nigeria & most of Africa, Viasport 2 in Norway, TV3 Sport in Sweden,

Streaming: LUTV in a number of different areas, ESPN+ in the United States, BeIN Sports Connect in Australia, DAZN in Germany Canada, Italy, Austria, & Switzerland, ESPN Play Sur in Argentina & South America, and Viaplay in Norway, Denmark & Sweden,

Check livesoccertv for additional information.

All-time Record: Leeds v Birmingham 39W 26D 40L

Reverse Fixture: 22 September 2018: Leeds 1 - 2 Birmingham City

Leeds United take to the road, looking to stay in the automatic promotion spots as they take on Birmingham City at St Andrews. Birmingham gave Leeds their first defeat of the season back in September at Elland Road, so Leeds have a chance to get a bit of revenge. Leeds also lost the last time they visited St Andrews, back in December of 2017, so there is even more of a reason to get a result on today’s travels.

Marcelo Bielsa has an almost fully fit side, with Barry Douglas really the only notable absence from the lineup. Kemar Roofe is finally back, so the team is spoilt for choice up front, with all three strikers (Roofe, Patrick Bamford, and Tyler Roberts) fit and most of the wingers fit as well.

Despite a return to fitness for Roofe, don’t necessarily expect him to get inserted back into the starting lineup, as Bielsa rarely makes changes to the lineup unless he’s forced to by injury. Bamford did have a rather poor match in the win against Millwall, so there is a chance that Roofe gets the nod over him, but it’s more likely that Roberts will slot in behind Bamford.

The only real tactical shift that Leeds might use would for Bielsa to use his famous 3-3-1-3 formation instead of the 4-1-4-1 that has been used in almost all of the matches this season. Birmingham started with two strikers back in September and Kalvin Phillips was taken off early in the first half as he had picked up a quick yellow and Bielsa wanted to get another central defender on the pitch. Since that time, Phillips has played a number of matches at central defense when Pontus Jansson or Liam Cooper has been out injured, meaning that Phillips would be able to shift to playing a central defender without a lot of trouble in this match, so Leeds will likely start with the same lineup as last weekend.

Birmingham City has had a terrible run of form and also suffered a points deduction this season for breaking FFP rules, so there is not a lot to play for right now other than avoiding the drop. This is the kind of game that Leeds need to win if they are to pick up enough points to gain automatic promotion. May Leeds put the hosts away early and allow fans to enjoy the day.