Bright Osayi-Samuel: Derby County vs Birmingham City — Preview, team news, tips & H2H

Super Eagles defender Bright Osayi-Samuel will be looking to continue his form when Derby County take on his Birmingham City side at Pride Park Stadium on Saturday, Afrik Foot reports.

The Nigerian has started every one of Birmingham City’s six league matches this season.

John Eustace’s Derby side sit 22nd in the table with four points from six matches and are still chasing their first home win of the season, while Chris Davies has Birmingham 15th on seven points.

Derby County vs Birmingham City match preview

Eustace’s side lost 0-1 at home to West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday, September 9, their third defeat in six matches.

Derby have not won any of their last three home league games, drawing one and losing two.

Their only victory of the campaign came away at Portsmouth on September 1, a 2-0 win sandwiched between a 0-3 home defeat to Swansea City and a 0-3 loss at West Ham United.

Birmingham drew 1-1 at home to Southampton and 2-2 with Wolverhampton Wanderers before a Norwich defeat, a form that leaves them unbeaten in three of their last four.

Birmingham’s away form is the more useful guide to Saturday: one win, one draw and one defeat in their last three on the road.

Derby’s task this season is to climb clear of the relegation zone they currently occupy.

Head-to-Head: Derby County vs Birmingham City

Saturday is the first meeting between these two clubs this season, but they have played twice in the last calendar year, and both games went to contrasting extremes at Pride Park.

Derby won the most recent meeting 1-0 in March 2026, while the previous home fixture between the sides finished 2-2 in January 2022, results that mean Derby have not lost a home league match against Birmingham in over five years.

Over the past 25 meetings between both these sides, Derby have won 11 of those games, leaving Birmingham with just five wins and nine draws between them.

Team News: Derby County vs Birmingham City

Derby County

Rhian Brewster was ruled out specifically for this fixture after taking a concussion blow in the defeat at West Ham United, and Carlton Morris is also sidelined with a calf injury that is expected to keep him out for another one to two weeks.

Patrick Agyemang remains out with a long-term Achilles problem, Filip Bilbija is unlikely to return imminently because of a back issue, and Lewis Travis is expected to be missing for around a month after suffering a leg injury.

At the back, Matthew Clarke is out with a calf injury and Derry Murkin with a hamstring problem.

Birmingham City (Bright Osayi-Samuel Ever Present)

Birmingham will also be light on numbers, Jhon Solis picked up a knock against Southampton and has been ruled out of the trip to Derby, while Marc Leonard, Max Bird and Taylor Gardner-Hickman are all in the treatment room.

Osayi-Samuel is the one certainty on Davies’ side; the Super Eagles full-back has started all six of Birmingham’s league games and is set to continue at right-back regardless of the changes forced elsewhere.

Star Player Watch: Sammie Szmodics vs Phil Neumann

The Managers: John Eustace vs Chris Davies

Eustace returned to Derby, the club where he made 62 appearances across two playing spells, in February 2025, arriving from Blackburn Rovers to steer the Rams away from relegation trouble in the 2024-25 season.

He has previously managed Birmingham City himself, taking charge at St Andrew’s between July 2022 and October 2023, which gives Saturday’s fixture an extra layer of familiarity for the 46-year-old.

Davies took over at Birmingham in June 2024 after leaving his role as senior assistant to Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham Hotspur, and it was his first job as a senior manager.

He delivered an immediate League One title with a record 111 points in his debut season, followed by a tenth-place finish on Birmingham’s return to the Championship last term.

Tactical Preview: Derby County vs Birmingham City

Eustace is likely to set Derby up in a 4-3-3 built around Alex Mowatt’s passing range in central midfield.

With Brewster, Morris, Agyemang and Bilbija all missing, the front three is likely to be reshaped around Szmodics through the middle, flanked by Bobby Clark and Mohammed Fuseini, neither of whom is a like-for-like replacement for the attackers they would be covering for.

Birmingham’s 4-2-3-1 under Davies is built on possession and a double pivot of Tomoki Iwata and Paik Seung-ho screening the back four, a platform that should cause problems for a Derby midfield missing the ball-winning presence of Lewis Travis.

Osayi-Samuel’s licence to push forward from right-back is the width Birmingham are likely to target down Derby’s left side, where Charlie Taylor has faced a heavier defensive workload than any other Derby full-back this season.

Derby County vs Birmingham City Betting Tips and Predictions

Derby County vs Birmingham City Score Prediction