Birmingham City versus Burnley match preview as Vincent Kompany's Clarets look to extend unbeaten stretch

The Clarets are undefeated in 11 league games under the 36-year-old Belgian, winning three of their last five, as they sit second to rivals Blackburn Rovers with two games in hand.

Their only defeat this term came at the hands of Watford at Vicarage Road in mid-August, when Tom Cleverley's strike on the stroke of half-time separated the two sides.

John Eustace’s Birmingham City, meanwhile, find themselves 15th — having collected 19 points after 14 games — and have lost just one of their last seven fixtures, beating Preston North End, West Brom, Bristol City and Hull City in that sequence.

The hosts returned 14 points in that spell having only taken five in their first seven games of the campaign. They had won just once heading into September, with first half goals from Scott Hogan and Przemyslaw Placheta seeing off Huddersfield Town.

The Clarets have the joint best attack in the Championship having already found the back of the net 24 times, a number only Sheffield United have been able to match.

Burnley also boast the second best defensive record in the division, conceding just 12 times, alongside Brum, which is just shy of the Lilywhites with a tally of 10.

Tonight’s clash marks the first time the two sides have met since 2016, which Burnley won 2-1. In their previous five meetings the Clarets won twice while the Blues have only won once (in 2013).

Kompany is still without midfielders Darko Churlinov, Scott Twine and Ashley Westwood, who revealed that he could be back in contention next month after suffering a serious knee injury.

Premier League Hall of Famer Kompany is likely to stick with the same XI that thrashed Swansea 4-0 during their last outing at Turf Moor.

Meanwhile Eustace will welcome back Dion Sanderson after the defender served a one match suspension against Hull, while George Friend, Marc Roberts, Gary Gardner, Nico Gordon and Placheta remain side-lined.

Predicted Burnley line-up: Arijanet Muric, Vitinho, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Jordan Beyer, Ian Maatsen, Josh Cullen, Jack Cork, Nathan Tella, Josh Brownhill, Anass Zaroury, Jay Rodriguez.

Predicted Birmingham line-up: John Ruddy, Sanderson, Harlee Dean, Auston Trusty, Maxime Colin, Krystian Bielik, Hannibal Mejbri, Juninho Bacuna, Manny Longelo, Tahith Chong, Scott Hogan.