Birmingham vs Preston preview, team news and h2h: Osayi-Samuel to lift the Bluenoses

Bright Osayi-Samuel will be looking to start his fourth straight game for Birmingham City as they look to take on Preston North End on Wednesday, Afrik Foot reports.

The Blues come into the clash against Preston on the back of a 1-1 draw against Hull City.

Preston, meanwhile, have won two of their last five games, with their most recent outing ending 0-2 loss to West Bromwich Albion.

Match Preview: Birmingham City vs. Preston North End

Birmingham City return home for what is effectively a mid-table finale, with the Championship season entering its closing stages. The Blues currently sit 15th in the table with 57 points from 43 games, the product of 15 wins, 12 draws and 16 defeats.

A mid-table finish is now the most realistic outcome for Chris Davies’ side, with little prospect of a late charge upwards and equally little danger from below.

Saturday’s 1-1 draw at the MKM Stadium was a creditable away point, Tomoki Iwata’s stunning long-range effort halting their own slump away from home, and Davies acknowledged that his side deserved something from the performance.

Preston North End arrive at St Andrew’s as a side settled comfortably in the Championship’s middle section. Paul Heckingbottom’s side sit 13th with a record of 14 wins, 15 draws and 13 defeats across 42 games.

Their season was defined by consistency rather than ambition, with play-off contention beyond reach and relegation never a realistic concern.

Both clubs enter this Wednesday night fixture with nothing but pride to play for, which, in the Championship’s compressed final weeks, can produce surprisingly competitive football.

Head to Head: Birmingham City vs. Preston North End

Preston have had the edge in recent clashes, winning three of the last five meetings against Birmingham, with the Blues winning the other two. Only three draws in the last 15 meetings highlight a tendency for one side to claim all three points.

The reverse fixture earlier this season ended in a 1-0 away win for Birmingham, demonstrating that the Blues are more than capable of taking the points in this match-up on the right day.

Seven of the last 14 head-to-head meetings have ended in stalemates, a pattern that points to the competitive, tight nature of encounters between these two sides.

Team News

Birmingham City

Kyogo Furuhashi and Lee Buchanan are both unavailable due to injury. Otherwise, Davies has a largely fit squad to choose from for what is one of the final home games of Birmingham’s Championship return season.

Osayi-Samuel is central to everything positive about Birmingham’s attacking play from deep. The 28-year-old Nigerian international signed a three-year deal with the club in July 2025 following the expiry of his contract at Fenerbahçe, where he spent four and a half seasons.

Initially a winger, he was reinvented as a right-back under Vítor Pereira at Fenerbahçe and has brought that versatility and dynamism to the Championship. His ability to drive forward from deep and create overloads on the right flank makes him one of the more complete full-backs in the division.

The Blues’ starting XI against Hull featured Osayi-Samuel at right-back alongside Christoph Klarer and Phil Neumann in defence, with Carlos Vicente and Jay Stansfield providing the attacking threat ahead of a midfield double pivot.

Carlos Vicente leads the club’s goalscoring charts, while Tomoki Iwata’s contribution from midfield, two impressive long-range goals in recent weeks, adds a further goal threat from deeper positions.

Predicted Birmingham City XI (4-2-3-1): Beadle; Osayi-Samuel, Neumann, Klarer, Wagner; Solís, Iwata; Vicente, Stansfield, Gray; Priske.

Preston North End

Preston’s top scorers this season are Milutin Osmajić, Alfie Devine and Lewis Dobbin, all on eight goals apiece, while Dobbin leads the assists chart with eight of his own.

The Lilywhites carry a well-distributed attacking threat, with no single reliance on one player, and Callum Lang and Alistair McCann are both carrying injuries. Heading into this fixture, it potentially limits Heckingbottom’s options in midfield.

The away record of six wins, eight draws and seven defeats on the road this season reflects a side that tends to be organised and hard to break down rather than a team that imposes itself on opponents away from Deepdale.

Predicted Preston North End XI (3-5-2): Iversen; Storey, Gibson, Hughes; Offiah, Whiteman, Devine, Moran, Potts; Dobbin, Jebbison.

The Managers

Chris Davies has overseen a solid if unspectacular first season back in the Championship for Birmingham.

The Welsh manager arrived with a reputation for developing young talent and building cohesive teams, and has largely delivered. The Blues are comfortably mid-table in their first second-tier campaign since 2024, with a positive squad assembled around the summer signings of Osayi-Samuel, Demarai Gray and Tommy Doyle.

His post-match assessment at Hull was measured but honest, pointing to Birmingham’s possession, box entries and shots on target as evidence of a performance that merited the point.

Paul Heckingbottom has stabilised Preston after a turbulent spell and built a well-balanced side that rarely embarrasses itself but equally rarely threatens to do anything extraordinary.

The squad’s strength lies in its breadth, with Osmajić, Devine and Dobbin all contributing eight goals apiece; the Lilywhites are not dependent on any single player to unlock defences.

Managing without McCann in midfield will be the primary selection headache ahead of the trip to Birmingham.

Tactical Preview

Davies will set up in his familiar 4-2-3-1, with Osayi-Samuel’s attacking capacity from right-back a key component of Birmingham’s best moments in the final third.

When given licence to overlap and combine with Vicente ahead of him, the Nigerian creates problems that Championship defences consistently struggle to contain.

The Blues’ defensive vulnerabilities, highlighted particularly on the road this season, are less acute at home. A settled backline of Neumann and Klarer, with Osayi-Samuel and Kai Wagner in the full-back positions, will need to be alert to Preston’s transition play, particularly via the Dobbin-Osmajić combination.

Heckingbottom will set his side up compactly, looking to frustrate Birmingham and hit on the break.

Preston’s away record, six wins, eight draws and seven defeats, suggests a team capable of keeping things tight, and if they can disrupt Birmingham’s rhythm and deny Osayi-Samuel the time and space he needs to contribute from deep, they have the quality across the front three to snatch something.