Rob Jarvis

Fri 19 June 2020 16:30, UK

West Brom boss Slaven Bilic believes that it will be easier for Birmingham City to play to their style once the Championship returns.

The Croatian opened up on what he took from the recent clash between Aston Villa and Sheffield United, claiming it was hard for both sides to re-find their styles of play.

It will be pivotal to get off to a good start in the Championship, with tough games against both Fulham and Brentford coming up.

Bilic commented on the Premier League duo before pointing out how difficult it will be to face Birmingham on Saturday.

“I have been watching the Bundesliga. I’ve been watching Spain, but I wanted to see Sheff United against Villa to see if they could maintain that energy…and they did,” he told the Birmingham Mail.

“We saw 90 minutes without clear cut chances with set pieces. The team that was hard working before the lockdown is going to be hardworking now. They can lose a bit. A little bit of that craziness.

“But direct teams, difficult teams, teams that are playing on the second balls, they are going to be as good as they were before. Birmingham – very difficult.”

Birmingham are known for their aerial ability, and if they go direct at the Hawthorns, Bilic could start to worry.

Both Kyle Bartley and Semi Ajayi will need to perform better than they did at St Andrew’s earlier in the season if they are to get three points again.

Bartley won six aerial battles in that 3-2 win, but Ajayi only managed one according to WhoScored. Compare that to Lukas Jutikiewiz and you can see the problem, the Blues striker won eight – more than the two defenders combined.

The danger has been identified, but that is only half of the problem and the Baggies must be aware at the Hawthorns.

In other West Brom news, David Prutton has predicted the scoreline for the Midlands derby on Saturday afternoon

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