PREVIEW: Birmingham City (A)

Derby County will be aiming to showcase their solid away form further when they travel to St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park to face Birmingham City on Boxing Day (12:30pm kick-off).

The Rams head to the Second City boasting four away victories from their previous five in the Sky Bet Championship but will see their travelling credentials examined by one of the division’s strongest home outfits.

Birmingham have won six from ten at St. Andrew’s this term - the third best record in the division for points per home game - scoring 22 goals en route, a total only surpassed by league leaders, Coventry City.

In a tight Championship table, Derby arrive at Friday’s fixture two places – and two points – above this weekend’s hosts.

Ticket Information:

The Rams will be cheered on by another sold out away end of 2,006 supporters on Friday lunchtime.

No further seats are to be made available. Fans without a ticket are advised not to make the trip to Birmingham, as they will be unable to gain access to the stadium.

Pre-Match Thoughts:

Head Coach John Eustace provided his pre-match thoughts to RamsTV ahead of Derby's meeting with the Blues.

Ahead of the trip to Birmingham, Derby forward Rhian Brewster also sat down with RamsTV to preview Friday’s clash.

The Opposition:

After cantering to the Sky Bet League One title last season, finishing with 111 points, Birmingham have made an impressive return to the Championship in the opening half of the campaign.

Buoyed by the arrival of 11 new signings in the summer, including the return of Premier League winner and Academy graduate Demarai Gray, the Blues got off to a near-perfect start - taking seven points from their opening three matches of the new season.

Although two wins from nine followed, with a few draws thrown into the mix, Chris Davies’ side showed their true capabilities by putting four goals past each of Portsmouth, Millwall, and Norwich City in November, underscoring their free-scoring form on home turf.

Talisman Jay Stansfield has amassed 11 goal contributions in 21 league appearances this term and has formed an instinctive connection with German striker Marvin Ducksch, who arrived from Werder Bremen in the summer.

After four games without victory, the Blues currently sit 14th in the table. Upon their Championship return, they sit six points off the play-offs as the midpoint of the season approaches.

Club Links:

The most striking contemporary connection is Rams boss, John Eustace, who has occupied both dugouts as a Head Coach.

Birmingham’s boss between July 2022 and October 2023, Eustace took charge of 63 matches during his tenure at St. Andrew’s.

He later joined Blackburn Rovers, enjoying a 52-game spell in the hotseat before he elected to return to Pride Park in February 2025, the same place Eustace finished his esteemed playing career a decade earlier.

Dion Sanderson is another familiar face around St. Andrew’s, having joined Derby from Birmingham on a season-long loan this summer.

Having played 97 times for the Blues, the central defender has made 23 appearances for the Rams this term, but he’ll have to wait a short while longer until he’s able to make his 24th, with Sanderson not permitted to feature against his parent club as per the rules of his loan agreement.

Birmingham’s squad holds four former Rams - Ryan Allsop, Lee Buchanan, Eiran Cashin and Patrick Roberts. Shot-stopper Allsop featured 33 times for Derby during the 2021/22 season, while current Blues loanee Roberts played on 15 occasions in his brief loan spell at the back end of the 2020/21 campaign.

A product of the Derby County Academy, Cashin wore the black and white 144 times, scoring six goals, following his debut in a 1–0 win over Blackpool in December 2021. He joined Premier League outfit Brighton and Hove Albion in January 2025, before linking up with the Blues on loan this summer.

After enjoying a dream debut with Derby – scoring the only goal in a 1-0 League Cup win over Scunthorpe United in August 2019 – fellow Academy graduate Buchanan went on to represent the Rams on 74 more occasions before departing for Werder Bremen in the summer of 2022. After a one-season stay in the Bundesliga, he signed a five-year contract with Birmingham.

In total, 40 players have pulled on the shirts of both clubs, with the list also including the likes of Lee Camp, Lee Carsley, Curtis Davies, Marco Gabbiadini, Michael Johnson, Darryl Powell and Gary Rowett.

Match Officials:

Ben Toner is set to be the man in the middle on Boxing Day, his second Derby fixture of the season.

He previously presided over the Rams’ 1-0 victory over Norwich City at Pride Park in October, while he is yet to have taken charge of a Blues match this term.

Toner has shown a total of 49 yellow cards and three red cards from his 13 matches across the EFL so far in 2025/26.

Conor Brown and Bhupinder Singh Gill have been named as the Assistant Referees, while Oliver Langford has been appointed as the Fourth Official.

RamsTV Audio & Video Coverage:

Live audio commentary for all of Derby County’s first team matches in the 2025/26 season - both league and cup fixtures - is available to RamsTV Audio subscribers based both in the UK and internationally.

Information about RamsTV's Video Live Streaming and other services for this season can be found here.

Highlights & Match Replay:

Full match reaction will be available on dcfc.co.uk and the Derby County App shortly after full time, with highlights and a full match replay available from midnight.