Birmingham’s emphatic comeback win on Wednesday will have the players on a massive high and will be pumping with confidence.
Few fans may see the heated attitude of a normal midlands derby between these two sides, especially not one so similar that was on show against fierce rivals Aston Villa just two weeks ago, but the event on Saturday may envisage a hearty atmosphere into St Andrew's.
The Blues may be in the League Cup final, but the team haven’t seen an FA Cup final since 1956 where they were beaten 3-1 by Manchester City and have a few games to win if they want to go all the reach Wembley for a second time this season.
Shot down in a time of glory
Coventry’s finest moment in football came on May 16 1987 when they came to Wembley for that season’s FA Cup final and triumphed 3-2 over David Pleat’s Tottenham.
This would usually have meant that the Sky Blues would have been able to take their place in the European Cup Winners’ Cup the following season, but due to the tragic events that occurred at Heysel the two years previously, all English clubs were banned from playing in Europe or a third season.
The final was commentated by BBC legend John Motson who claimed that it was the ‘finest cup final’ that he had ever commentated on due to its clean, good-willed yet well-contested football and was seen as a great spectacle of English football at the time.
TEAM NEWS
Birmingham City
After their prolonged and well earned League Cup win in midweek it would be fair to say that manager Alex McLeish will rest some of his more fatigued players from Wednesday’s victory.
The cup finalists will still be without defender Scott Dann (hamstring), Enric Valles (ankle) and James McFadden (knee).
Wednesday’s hero Craig Gardner picked up a knock in the victory over West Ham and is expected to start on the bench at most unless he can shake it off in time.
David Bentley will be available in this tie as he did not feature in Tottenham’s FA Cup fixture and so will have a dynamic element on the right, given that he starts.
Possible starting XI: Foster; Carr, Johnson, Jiranek, Murphy; Larsson, Fahey, Ferguson, Hleb; Derbyshire, Zigic.
Coventry
The Sky Blues offloaded midfielder Michael Doyle this week to Sheffield United so Sammy Clingan is expected to come into the starting line-up.
Otherwise boss Aidy Boothroyd is expected to start his strongest side on Saturday afternoon.
Possible starting XI: Westwood; Keogh, Cranie, Wood, O’Halloran; Baker, Gunnarsson, Clingan, McSheffrey; King, Eastwood.
Prediction
Birmingham have too much good feeling to waste in a loss against their local club and a win should be certain for the St Andrew's outfit.
Birmingham 2-0 Coventry 
