Birmingham will put up a better fight against Aston Villa this time around

By James Nursey

Published 13:43 09/09/09

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All sporting eyes in the Midlands this weekend will be on Birmingham City v Aston Villa on Sunday.

Villa won both the derbies last time Brum were in the top-flight in 2007/2008.

The previous meeting saw Villa run out 5-1 winners at home with Ashley Young and John Carew both scoring twice.

I know Birmingham manager Alex McLeish and many of his players are still haunted by that thrashing.

But they may be helped this weekend as Villa counterpart Martin O'Neill is likely to field a 4-5-1 formation at St Andrew's with Gabriel Agbonlahor upfront on his own.

So I am predicting a much closer game ending in a 1-1 draw this time - with hopefully none of the crowd trouble which has marred other Premier League matches between the clubs.

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