Birmingham City will host Wigan Athletic in the Championship this Saturday, with the Blues chasing their first win over the Latics since with Che Adams and Connor Mahoney in 2018.
John Eustace chasing first Birmingham City win over Wigan Athletic since 2018
John Eustace will welcome Leam Richardson’s Wigan Athletic team to Birmingham City this weekend, chasing the Blues’ first win over the Latics since a 3-0 Championship affair at the DW Stadium during December 2018 with Che Adams among the players on the scoresheet.
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Birmingham have failed to beat Wigan in any of their last three encounters, with the Latics winning the past two. The Greater Manchester outfit did a Championship double over the St Andrew’s side during the 2019/20 campaign, despite their season ending with relegation.
Wigan secured their return to the second-tier at the second time of asking as League One champions this April. But Richardson is yet to oversee a win after their first three matches of the Championship campaign, with the Latics drawing in each of their opening encounters.
Failing to take a win, but avoiding defeats, leaves Wigan 19th in the early league standings. Birmingham, meanwhile, sit 12th in the table after one win and two draws in their opening four fixtures. They held newly-relegated Watford to a 1-1 stalemate at home this Tuesday.
John Eustace will hope to follow Garry Monk in beating Wigan with Birmingham
Eustace will now hope to follow in Garry Monk’s footsteps, and oversee a Birmingham win over Wigan at the weekend. Monk’s Blues team beat a Paul Cook Latics line-up 3-0 back in December 2018 with Adams breaking the deadlock in the 26th-minute at the DW Stadium.
Lukas Jutkiewicz combined with his strike partner for Adams to slot home beyond Christian Walton. Michael Morrison would double his Second City outfit’s lead in first-half stoppage-time by tucking away Gary Gardner’s corner, while Jacques Maghoma finished the scoring.
A header towards Walton’s net from Jutkiewicz returned the striker’s second assist of the game as Maghoma nodded home. Wigan rarely looked like posing a challenge throughout the second-tier contest, with Cedric Kipre heading the host’s closest attempt onto the bar.
The win moved Birmingham up to eighth in the standings after 23 games, while Wigan sat in 19th. Cook’s Latics were also just six points clear of the relegation zone on December 22 after failing to win nine of their last 10 games. The sides ended the term level on 52 points.
Of the 11 players Monk started at Wigan in December 2018, just four are with Birmingham today, ahead of the Latics’ trip to St Andrew’s on Saturday. So, with that in mind, what was the line-up that Monk used to secure the Blues’ last victory over Wigan four years ago?
Lee Camp (GK): Free agent goalkeeper started Birmingham’s last win over Wigan
Lee Camp started between the Birmingham sticks in the Blues’ last win over Wigan during his two-year St Andrew’s spell. The goalkeeper moved to the Second City from Cardiff City in 2018, and remained up until his release in 2020 after 20 clean sheets in 86 total fixtures.
The eight-cap Northern Ireland international responded to being axed by Birmingham with a move to Coventry City. But his Sky Blues stay was short-lived, much like subsequent stays at Swindon Town and Wrexham. He has been a free agent since leaving Wrexham in June.
Wes Harding (RB): Rotherham wing-back left boyhood Birmingham in 2020
Wes Harding honed his trade in the Birmingham academy, and broke through to amass 59 first-team appearances. He enjoyed 29 games during the 2018/19 term in all competitions, before leaving his boyhood side for Rotherham United in 2020 and featuring in 98 fixtures.
Michael Morrison (CB): Captained Birmingham to club’s last win over Wigan
Morrison captained Birmingham to the Blues’ last win over Wigan in December 2018, and also got on the scoresheet. The centre-half struck his third goal of the Championship term to stretch Birmingham’s advantage, marking one of his 14 for the club in 183 total outings.
Birmingham signed Morrison back in 2014 from Charlton Athletic in an initial loan transfer they turned permanent. He would remain at St Andrew’s through until 2019 when the 34-year-old joined Reading. Three terms followed with the Royals before joining Portsmouth.
Harlee Dean (CB): One of just four still at Birmingham from last win over Wigan
Harlee Dean is one of just four players who started Birmingham’s last win over Wigan still at St Andrew’s today. The centre-half joined the Blues from Brentford in 2017, and has 184 appearances for the club. But the 31-year-old is now in the final year of his Blues contract.
Maxime Colin (LB): Full-back could help score next Birmingham win over Wigan
Maxim Colin started as Birmingham last beat Wigan and can help score the Blues’ next win over the Latics on Saturday. The 30-year-old moved to St Andrew’s from Brentford in 2017, and has 210 outings for the Second City side. But he is now in the final year of his contract.
Connor Mahoney (RM): Former Blues loanee now at Huddersfield after 2022 switch
Connor Mahoney spent the 2018/19 term on loan to Birmingham from Bournemouth, and offered two goals plus four assists over 30 Championship games. But his form only led to a switch to Millwall in 2019, who released the now Huddersfield Town forward this summer.
Maikel Kieftenbeld (CM): FC Emmen signed midfielder from Millwall this July
Maikel Kieftenbeld completed a move to FC Emmen as a free agent this July, after allowing his contract at Millwall to expire. The midfielder only moved to The Den last year on an 18-month deal, ending his five-and-a-half-year Birmingham spell after 183 games for the club.
Gary Gardner (CM): Assisted Michael Morrison to double Birmingham advantage
Gardner assisted Morrison from a corner during the first minute of first-half stoppage-time to double Birmingham’s lead over Wigan in their last win over the Latics in 2018. It marked the midfielder’s first assist after joining the side and one of five in 154 games in blue so far.
Jacques Maghoma (LM): Scored final goal in last Birmingham win over Wigan
Maghoma headed in the final goal in Birmingham’s last win over Wigan in the 61st-minute. It was the forward’s third goal of the 2018/19 Championship campaign, and one of 21 that the 34-year-old scored over his 180 games in all competitions for the club from 2015 to 2020.
Birmingham signed Maghoma from Sheffield Wednesday after previous spells with Burton Albion and academy side Tottenham Hotspur. The 21-cap DR Congo ace has since gone on to play for SC East Bengal, Spalding United and is now with non-league Hemel Hempstead.
Lukas Jutkiewicz (ST): Striker laid on two assists in last Birmingham win over Wigan
Jutkiewicz laid on two assists during Birmingham’s last win over Wigan, after teeing Adams and Maghoma up to score. It took the forward to six assists for the Championship season, while the 33-year-old now has 24, plus 56 goals, in 257 games with the Blues and counting.
Che Adams (ST): Southampton star broke the deadlock as Birmingham beat Wigan
Adams broke the deadlock 26 minutes into Birmingham’s last win over Wigan with his 11th goal of the Championship season. The 26-year-old would end the 2018/19 campaign on 22 goals in 46 outings, to convince Southampton to pay £15m to seal his transfer in July 2019.
His south coast switch ended a three-year spell at St Andrew’s, which included 38 goals in 123 games in all competitions. The 19-cap Scotland international has since hit the net 21 times in 111 games for the Saints, who are now willing to sell the striker, per The Athletic.
Southampton would want to recoup the £15m they paid Birmingham to sell Adams, who is coveted among Premier League sides. The Telegraph note he is Everton’s top target, while the Daily Mail claim Adams also wants to join Frank Lampard’s squad during this summer.
He has also attracted interest from Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Wolverhampton Wanderers, per the Daily Mail. The Leicester-born striker is open to leaving Southampton, having slipped in Ralph Hasenhuttl’s pecking order with one start in two games this term.
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