Birmingham City welcome Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United to St Andrew’s on Sunday with both the Blues and the Whites in fairly poor recent form.
Birmingham City manager Pep Clotet has given his verdict on the Leeds United team and fans as the two teams prepare to lock horns in a festive Championship clash in the West Midlands, a fixture the Spaniard has described as a “pleasure” (official BCFC website).
The Blues welcome the Whites to St Andrew’s on Sunday hoping to put an end to a four-match winless run which included three defeats, but Leeds, who have been dominant for much of the campaign and are fighting for automatic promotion, will also be eager to overcome a blip of their own.
Leeds had previously managed an 11-game unbeaten run which included seven wins in a row, but their last three games ended in two draws and a defeat, though West Bromwich Albion have also stumbled, so only a three-point gap separates second from first in the table.
When asked by the Birmingham media team if he was looking forward to “games like this” over the Christmas period, Clotet replied: “Absolutely. I think it’s a pleasure that we’ve got Leeds United during the Christmas period at home.
“We want to have a fantastic atmosphere and I’m sure our fans and their fans will give it. I’m sure the quality of the football will be there. They are a team that can always cause you a lot of problems. But I have belief that we can cause them problems as we caused problems to West Brom.”
With regards to team news ahead of the game, Jake Clarke-Salter, Marc Roberts and Maikel Kieftenbeld remain sidelined for Birmingham, who are currently 16th in the Championship table, while Pablo Hernandez and Adam Forshaw are missing for Leeds, who are second in the standings.
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