The quietest West Midlands derby in recent memory ended goalless as West Brom dominated possession, generated ample chances but simply could not score and Birmingham earned a resolute point. Albion returned to the top of the table on goal difference, with Leeds in action on Sunday.
“I’m disappointed with the result,” said the West Brom manager, Slaven Bilic. “I think we deserved to win. We had enough to win, again a little bit of luck, but more than that you have to perform good enough in the final third.”
After such dominance in the first five months of the season, West Brom went into lockdown having been knocked off their pedestal by Leeds following three games without a win. The restart offered them a blank slate as they head into the home straight in pursuit of promotion to the Premier League.
A morale boost was provided by their best player, Matheus Pereira, who by making his 32nd appearance of at least 45 minutes, is now eligible to be signed permanently from Sporting according to a clause in his loan contract.
They arrived as energised as their rivals were frazzled. Pep Clotet announced this week that he will be at the Birmingham helm for the nine matches left this season, and no more. Big clubs continue to whisper sweetly in the 16-year-old Jude Bellingham’s ears. Even before Kristian Pedersen, Ivan Sunjic and Marc Roberts were ruled out with injury for Saturday’s game, three squad players had departed in advance of their contracts finishing at the end of the month. Most players on Birmingham’s bench were untested youngsters.
While West Brom had everything to play for, City, seemingly safe from relegation in 16th place and playing in front of no fans, initially did not appear inspired.
Hull and Middlesbrough remain in serious trouble after the Championship restarted with one home victory from 11 matches.
Hull dropped into the relegation zone after losing 1-0 at home to fellow strugglers Charlton. Lee Bowyer’s side secured the victory through a bundled effort from their captain, Jason Pearce, which took them out of the bottom three.
Middlesbrough were left 21st, level on points with Hull, after being beaten 3-0 at the Riverside by Swansea, with Rhian Brewster scoring twice. Jonathan Woodgate said he was left feeling “stunned … it’s hard to explain that type of performance. It wasn’t nice.”
Barnsley moved off the bottom with a 1-0 win at QPR, while Wigan pulled three points clear of the drop zone by winning 2-0 at struggling Huddersfield. Teenager Louie Sibley scored a brilliant hat-trick as Derby won 3-2 at Millwall and play-off chasing Nottingham Forest were held 1-1 at Sheffield Wednesday while Preston, in sixth, drew 1-1 at the bottom club Luton.
In the day’s only home win, Blackburn boosted their top-six hopes by beating Bristol City 3-1. Reading were held 1-1 by Stoke.
The EFL issued an apology after the iFollow match streaming service failed, meaning some fans missed the start of games. The service was restored after 30 minutes. PA Media
From the opening minutes, the home side effortlessly strolled through the Birmingham midfield and into the final third. It was all that everyone has come to expect from them in this excellent season – seamless one-two combinations and passing so slick that Birmingham could not keep up.
As usual, Pereira was the orchestrator of much that was good about his team, dinking delicate balls across the pitch at will while skilfully evading tackles. Hal Robson-Kanu, Callum Robinson, Matt Phillips and Kieran Gibbs also created numerous chances.
And yet, West Brom could not score. Robson-Kanu sent a free header wide and seemed to be millimetres from connecting with crosses from Pereira and Robinson. Phillips’s shot from point-blank range was blocked by flying Birmingham bodies. A goalmouth scramble from a deflected Pereira free-kick somehow did not end with the ball over the line.
“For me, it comes down to sharpness,” said Bilic. “You need matches to get match sharp. That’s the only thing I’m not happy about. Everything else was there.”
Birmingham grew into the game and as the second half wore on they dropped deeper and began to organise themselves extremely well. The centre backs, Jake Clarke-Salter and Harlee Dean, put in dogged performances for a team that refused to be beaten, and they were rewarded with a hard-fought point.
“We have another 90 minutes under our belts and we hope to get some of the lads back from injury,” said Clotet. “But as a coach, I don’t even want to think about [whether] we should have more depth because that would take my focus out of the real thing – that is working to get the maximum results possible.”