Birmingham City

Image source, Opta

Sheffield United begin their Championship season with the visit of Birmingham to Bramall Lane on Saturday (17:30 BST).

Both teams began the campaign with a victory, the Blades winning 3-0 at Mansfield in the EFL Cup first round last weekend while Blues prevailed 1-0 at Swansea to reach round two.

Chris Wilder's side have lost five of their past six games on the opening day, including a 4-1 home humbling by Bristol City last season under Ruben Selles, while Chris Davies' men have drawn their past four curtain-raisers, with a 1-1 home draw against Ipswich last season.

• Sheffield United are unbeaten in their past five league games against Birmingham City (W3 D2), having failed to win any of the previous five meetings (D3 L2).

• Birmingham City have won just one of their past eight away league games against Sheffield United (D3 L4), with that victory coming on the opening day of the 2021-22 Championship season under Lee Bowyer (1-0).

• Only Leicester City (32) dropped more points from winning positions in the EFL Championship last season than Sheffield United (29), while the Blades lost five of their final nine matches at Bramall Lane last term (W2 D2).

• Only 20 of Birmingham City's 64 points in the EFL Championship were picked up away from home (31.3%), the lowest proportion in the competition last season.

• In the EFL Championship last season, Sheffield United (11) and Birmingham (11.1) had the two lowest passes per defensive action values, while only Ipswich Town (67) recorded more shot-ending high turnovers than the Blades (59).

Birmingham are keen on Bristol City midfielder Max Bird, 25, who has just a year left on his Ashton Gate contract. (Birmingham Live, external)

Want more transfer news from the EFL? Take a look at Thursday's gossip column here.

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Kym Smith
Fan writer

Image source, Shutterstock

Our previous visit to Swansea City before Saturday's 1-0 win in the EFL Cup was a distinctly unimpressive draw, although I suppose in the context of last season's away form, a point there was an improvement on some of our dire results on the road.

Although we have a reasonable squad, we are still a bit short on attacking options, so Chris Davies ended up putting a not-quite-fit Paik Seung-ho behind August Priske in the starting line-up.

It's not Paik's usual position, and he hasn't had a full pre-season - and it quickly showed that he was off the pace.

Jay Stansfield was again pushed out on the left wing, which isn't his best position either, but Demarai Gray wasn't fit enough to start.

The first quarter of an hour looked very much like a "last season Blues" performance, so it was something of a relief when we started to pick up the pace a bit on the way to a rare away victory.

The long, long absent Lee Buchanan returned to first-team duties as a half-time sub, and it was great to see him again - he suffered a terrible knee injury back in December 2024, and his recovery has been long and (probably) painful.

We also saw a debut for Luis Vazquez, who certainly made his presence felt in the last 20 minutes and looks to be a good addition to the squad.

Priske's goal was the difference between the two teams, and we are in the draw for the second round.

And there are five very important words to sign off with: a win on the road.

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Image source, Getty Images

Can't get enough of your beloved Championship club? Fear not.

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Remember, the best way to get all of this content is to download the BBC Sport app and follow your favourite teams and sports using the My Sport tab.

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Birmingham City, Wrexham and Southampton have all expressed an interest in signing Canadian Bournemouth striker Daniel Jebbison, 22. (Daily Echo), external

Want more EFL transfer news and rumours? Read Thursday's full gossip column here.

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Kym Smith
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

There was a historical perspective to Friday's game against Barcelona, as way back in 1960, Blues were the first English club to play in a European cup final (spoiler: we didn't win).

Rerunning this fixture was a good excuse for a pre-season friendly.

St Andrew's was packed. There was barely a seat without a bum on it and the atmosphere was banging.

Barca had brought along a few first-teamers, but a lot of their squad were development players, albeit players who already had impressive CVs despite their tender ages, such as the 18-year-old Hamza Abdelkarim, who played for Egypt at the World Cup.

One very recognisable member of the Barca squad was Wojciech Szczesny, whom any Blues fan aged over about 23 will know was the Arsenal goalkeeper who made that howler in the League Cup final in 2011. Needless to say he received a proper Birmingham City welcome!

Most of the Birmingham first team were involved apart from Demarai Gray and Paik Seung-ho, who were both injured, and it was really good to see the team not intimidated by the opponents and the occasion.

But Birmingham were playing kids, I hear you say. True, but these were kids who are part of one of the world's most decorated clubs - they all showed incredible pace and skill.

Therefore, 2-2 was a decent score after 90 minutes. Abdelkarim's first two senior goals were countered by August Priske's header and an equaliser from Jhon Solis.

A superb double save by James Beadle made up for his mistake for Barca's second goal.

I was rather surprised to find out there was a penalty shootout to follow, as I'd missed the announcement before the start of the game.

Beadle was instrumental in us winning the shootout with two saves before Patrick Roberts sealed the deal and sent many thousands of Blues fans home happy.

Another bonus was seeing Jude Bellingham in the crowd to watch the game. I'm sure Real Madrid fans will have found it amusing that he was cheering on Birmingham beating their sworn rivals.

The "real" football starts this weekend with a trip to Swansea City in the first round of the EFL Cup.

Hopefully, we will have put some of our away travails aside and come away from this with a ticket into the next round.

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Image source, Getty Images

Birmingham City have added a fifth new signing in preparation for the new season after agreeing a deal for Palermo defender Kristoffer Lund.

The 24-year-old USA left-back has arrived on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee.

Denmark-born Lund made his senior debut for FC Midtjylland in 2021, having come through the club's academy, before going on to have a spell in Sweden.

He joined Palermo three years ago and went on to make 72 appearances for the Serie B club before spending last season on loan in Germany with Bundesliga side FC Cologne.

Lund, who has won seven caps for the USA but was not part of their World Cup squad, joins Argentine striker Luis Vazquez, defender Dael Fry, loanee goalkeeper James Beadle and now-permanent signing Jhon Solis at St Andrew's in boss Chris Davies' squad for 2026-27.

Birmingham are set to sign Denmark-born USA left-back Kristoffer Lund, 24, who spent last season on loan at Koln from Italian side Palermo. (Bold - in Danish, external)

Want more transfer news from the EFL? Take a look at Wednesday's gossip column here.