Championship trio facing run of games pivotal to respective aims

THE next three Championship games are huge for Birmingham, West Bromwich Albion and Coventry City.

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Jay Stansfield was Birmingham City's stand-out attacker on Saturday

Villa and Wolves need to win their weekend FA Cup fourth round ties if they want to eventually end their long wait for a major trophy.

The Blues and Baggies are also in the Cup but they will be focused on tonight's local derby at St Andrew's for contrasting reasons.

Birmingham need another home win to stay right in touch with the playoff spots. They are currently just two points off them.

West Brom are desperate for the first win for their new manager and to climb away from the danger zone. They are just one point above the relegation place after being without a victory in Eric Ramsay's first five matches.

I would expect the Blues to win. They beat struggling Leicester City on Saturday 2-1 after the Foxes' Bobby De Cordova-Reid had been sent off for a bad tackle on on-loan Brighton winger Ibrahim Osman. That was in the 32nd minute.

Blues' best attacker Jay Stansfield scored the winner - his 10th of the season - to end 13 matches without a goal but in fairness he does so much work in each game.

The Blues have won four of their last six league games and are in contention now for a playoff position.

Meanwhile, the Baggies did climb out of the relegation zone with the 0-0 home draw with Stoke. It may have been an improvement after heavy defeats against Norwich City and Portsmouth but Stoke have not won a Championship match since January 4. Worrying days and tonight's fixture will not ease those fears.

The game is live on Sky Sports with an 8pm kickoff.

Managerless Leicester finished off a difficult week after being deducted six points for breaching the EFL's financial rules on Thursday.