{"id":412023,"date":"2011-04-29T10:35:03","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T10:35:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/04\/29\/birmingham-v-wolves\/"},"modified":"2011-04-29T10:35:03","modified_gmt":"2011-04-29T10:35:03","slug":"birmingham-v-wolves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/birmingham-v-wolves\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham v Wolves"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sunday, 1 May 2011<\/p>\n<p>Barclays Premier League<\/p>\n<table summary=\"This table is for live text and stats\" caption=\"\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th scope=\"col\"><span>Home Team<\/span><\/th>\n<th scope=\"col\"><span>Score<\/span><\/th>\n<th scope=\"col\"><span>Away Team<\/span><\/th>\n<th scope=\"col\"><span>Time<\/span><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>Birmingham<\/td>\n<td>v<\/td>\n<td>Wolves<\/td>\n<td>12:00<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"subrow\" colspan=\"4\"\/>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"team right\" id=\"homeTeamScorers\"\/>\n<td\/>\n<td>\n<\/td>\n<td\/>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>BIRMINGHAM<\/p>\n<p>WOLVES<\/p>\n<div>\n<h3>Possession<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span>Birmingham<\/span> <span>50%<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>Wolves<\/span> <span>50%<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span><strong>Barclays Premier League<\/strong><br \/><strong>Venue:<\/strong> St Andrew&#8217;s <strong>Date:<\/strong> Sunday, 1 May <strong>Kick-off:<\/strong> 1200 BST<br \/><strong>Coverage:<\/strong> Watch highlights on Match of the Day 2; listen on talkSPORT, BBC Radio 5 live and local radio; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>TEAM NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Birmingham goalkeeper Ben Foster is fit despite being forced off against Liverpool because of a dead leg and sore back.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nikola Zigic may be on the substitutes&#8217; bench if he passes a late fitness test, but Obafemi Martins has been ruled out for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Wolves are optimistic that striker Steven Fletcher will play despite jarring his knee against Stoke.<\/p>\n<p>Fellow forward Sylvan Ebanks-Blake is doubtful with a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><strong>Birmingham<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Doubtful<\/strong>: Zigic (groin &#038; hip)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Injured<\/strong>: Dann (hamstring), Martins (groin), McFadden (knee), Taylor (shoulder), Valles (foot)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wolves<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Doubtful<\/strong>: Ebanks-Blake (hamstring), Fletcher (knee)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Injured<\/strong>: Doyle (knee), Edwards (back), Elokobi (hamstring), Zubar (shoulder)<\/p>\n<p><strong>MATCH PREVIEW<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Wolves make the short trip to Birmingham, where they last won a top-flight game 30 years ago, in desperate need of a victory after Tuesday&#8217;s morale-sapping defeat at Stoke.<\/p>\n<table cellspacing=\"0\" align=\"right\" width=\"231\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" readability=\"1.5\">\n<tr readability=\"4\">\n<td width=\"5\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/0ca56104o.gif.gif\" width=\"5\" height=\"1\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" vspace=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/td>\n<td readability=\"5\">\n<div>\n<p><strong>We weren&#8217;t expected to take anything from these last two games at Chelsea and Liverpool and the bookies have been proved right<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><br clear=\"all\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Birmingham boss Alex McLeish<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>Mick McCarthy&#8217;s men have lost their way since their last visit to Birmingham, six weeks ago. After winning at Blues&#8217; arch rivals Aston Vila to claim a third victory in six games, Wolves looked well set for survival.<\/p>\n<p>However, since then they have claimed just one point from a possible 12, a run that has coincided with an injury to key man Kevin Doyle. The Irish striker hopes to return for the final two games of the season, but unless Wolves can stop the rot their fate may already settled by then.<\/p>\n<p>Heavy defeats at Chelsea and Liverpool mean Birmingham are not yet safe. However, Alex McLeish&#8217;s men appear to be inching their way to safety thanks to their home form &#8211; they are chasing a third successive win at St Andrew&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MATCH FACTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Head-to-head<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Wolves won the reverse fixture in December to claim their first win in 10 league matches against Birmingham.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 The last time Wolves won a top-flight game at St Andrew&#8217;s (on 21 November 1981) they ended the season second bottom and were relegated.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 An away win would give Mick McCarthy&#8217;s men their first top-flight double against Birmingham since the 1975\/76 season. That year Blues ended the campaign one place above Wolves, who were relegated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Birmingham<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Blues have won two of their last nine Premier League matches (W2, D2, L5).<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Cameron Jerome has not scored in his last 21 Premier League games. His last top-flight goal came in the 3-2 defeat at Stoke on 9 November. He has netted two FA Cup goals since then.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Birmingham have conceded eight goals in their last two games, and have kept just one clean sheet in their last 10 matches in league and cup.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wolves<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Mick McCarthy&#8217;s side have taken just eight points on their travels &#8211; the worst record in the top flight this season.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 They have conceded 11 goals in their last four games, scoring two in reply.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Wolves have lost 16 of 19 league games in which their opponents scored first.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LEADING GOALSCORERS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Birmingham<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Gardner: 9 goals (7 league); Zigic: 8 goals (5 league)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wolves<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Fletcher: 8 goals (6 league); Doyle: 8 goals (5 league)<\/p>\n<p><strong>MATCH OFFICIALS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Referee<\/strong>: Kevin Friend<\/p>\n<p><strong>Assistant referees<\/strong>: Dave Bryan &#038; Ron Ganfield<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fourth official<\/strong>: Lee Probert<\/p>\n<p><strong>LAST LEAGUE MATCH LINE-UPS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Birmingham<\/strong> (L0-5 v Liverpool, a): Foster (Doyle 40), Carr, Johnson, Jiranek, Ridgewell, Larsson, Gardner (Phillips 79), Fahey, Bowyer, Hleb (Bentley 67), Jerome. Subs not used: Parnaby, Davies, Derbyshire, Beausejour.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Wolves<\/strong> (L0-3 v Stoke, a): Hennessey, Stearman, Berra, Craddock, Ward (Guedioura 79), Mancienne, Kightly (Hunt 74), Henry, O&#8217;Hara, Jarvis, Fletcher (Vokes 69). Subs not used: Hahnemann, Milijas, Mouyokolo, Foley.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>See the article here:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/go\/rss\/-\/sport1\/hi\/football\/eng_prem\/9469679.stm\" title=\"Birmingham v Wolves\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Birmingham v Wolves<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> \u00a0 Sunday, 1 May 2011 Barclays Premier League Home Team Score Away Team Time Birmingham v Wolves 12:00 BIRMINGHAM WOLVES Possession Birmingham 50% Wolves 50% Barclays Premier League Venue: St Andrew&#8217;s Date: Sunday, 1 May Kick-off: 1200 BST Coverage: Watch highlights on Match of the Day 2; listen on talkSPORT, BBC Radio 5 live and local radio; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles TEAM NEWS Birmingham goalkeeper Ben Foster is fit despite being forced off against Liverpool because of a dead leg and sore back. Nikola Zigic may be on the substitutes&#8217; bench if he passes a late fitness test, but Obafemi Martins has been ruled out for the rest of the season<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":412024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-412023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Birmingham v Wolves - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/birmingham-v-wolves\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Birmingham v Wolves - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"\u00a0 Sunday, 1 May 2011 Barclays Premier League Home Team Score Away Team Time Birmingham v Wolves 12:00 BIRMINGHAM WOLVES Possession Birmingham 50% Wolves 50% Barclays Premier League Venue: St Andrew&#039;s Date: Sunday, 1 May Kick-off: 1200 BST Coverage: Watch highlights on Match of the Day 2; listen on talkSPORT, BBC Radio 5 live and local radio; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles TEAM NEWS Birmingham goalkeeper Ben Foster is fit despite being forced off against Liverpool because of a dead leg and sore back. Nikola Zigic may be on the substitutes&#039; bench if he passes a late fitness test, but Obafemi Martins has been ruled out for the rest of the season\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/birmingham-v-wolves\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/birmingham-v-wolves\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Birmingham v Wolves\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-29T10:35:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/birmingham-v-wolves\/\"},\"wordCount\":649,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/birmingham-v-wolves\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/birmingham-v-wolves\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/birmingham-v-wolves\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/birmingham-v-wolves\/\",\"name\":\"Birmingham v Wolves - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/birmingham-v-wolves\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/birmingham-v-wolves\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-29T10:35:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/birmingham-v-wolves\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/birmingham-v-wolves\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Birmingham v Wolves - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/04\/29\/birmingham-v-wolves\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Birmingham v Wolves - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"\u00a0 Sunday, 1 May 2011 Barclays Premier League Home Team Score Away Team Time Birmingham v Wolves 12:00 BIRMINGHAM WOLVES Possession Birmingham 50% Wolves 50% Barclays Premier League Venue: St Andrew's Date: Sunday, 1 May Kick-off: 1200 BST Coverage: Watch highlights on Match of the Day 2; listen on talkSPORT, BBC Radio 5 live and local radio; text commentary on BBC Sport website and mobiles TEAM NEWS Birmingham goalkeeper Ben Foster is fit despite being forced off against Liverpool because of a dead leg and sore back. 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