Pick of the stats: Birmingham City v Bristol City

Birmingham City kicked off their home season amidst a losing streak, having previously won only three out of their last 46 league games at St Andrew's Stadium. All those defeats occurred when they returned to the Championship last season. On the other side, Bristol City began their new chapter under manager Michael Skubala with a 2-0 home defeat to Millwall. This loss, combined with their elimination from the Carabao Cup by Walsall, has left them without any goals scored this season.

Despite Bristol's struggles, Birmingham City have been impressive against Bristol City, winning three of their past four home league encounters (with one draw). In these matches, Birmingham has managed to keep a clean sheet, an achievement they matched over their previous 14 attempts combined. Conversely, Bristol City have suffered eight losses in their last 13 away league games against Birmingham City, securing just three wins and two draws in these matchups. Notably, they suffered a 2-1 defeat last season at St Andrew's.

Birmingham will be looking to avoid scoringlessness in their first two league matches since the 2002-03 season, a feat they failed to achieve by losing 2-0 to Arsenal and 1-0 to Blackburn that year. Similarly, Bristol City will aim to avoid their first two league defeats of a campaign, a situation they only managed not to repeat once in the past 11 campaigns, which occurred during the 2022-23 season.

Looking at last season's Championship campaigns, only Coventry City managed to outshoot Birmingham with 397 shots and 130 shots on target in their home matches.