Two struggling Championship sides cross swords as Birmingham City face Stoke City at the St Andrew's Stadium.
Birmingham City have just one win in their previous five games alongside two losses and two draws. The home side played out a six goal stalemate against Plymouth Argyle during the weekend as Morgan Whittaker equalised the billing for Plymouth in the last knockings of the game to salvage a point and destroy Birmingham's hopes.
Stoke City, on the other hand, have just three points from their available fifteen as they are on the run of three successive draws. Their toothless stalemate against Millwall last week saw them take their points tally to 24 points as they can go level on points with Birmingham if they win on Boxing Day.
Here, GOAL brings you everything you need to know about how to watch, including TV channel, streaming details and more.
Birmingham vs Stoke kick-off time
| Date: | December 26, 2023 |
| Kick-off time: | 5:15 GMT |
| Venue: | St Andrew's Stadium |
Birmingham will host Stoke City at the St Andrew's Stadium with kick-off at 5:15 GMT in the UK.
How to watch Birmingham vs Stoke online - TV channels & live streams
The fixture will be available to stream on Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Football, and Sky Sports Ultra HDR in the UK with live updates on GOAL's Live Match Centre.
Team news & squads
Birmingham team news
The home side are still awaiting on an update defender Lee Buchanan with the left-back hobbling off the pitch after a collision last week.
Krystian Bielik picked up a nasty red card in the 3-3 draw against Plymouth and the midfielder will be out for three games with suspension.
Birmingham predicted XI: Ruddy; Aiwu, Sanderson, Roberts, Longelo; Sunjic, James, Bacuna; Miyoshi, Dembele, Stansfield
| Position | Players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers: | Etheridge, Ruddy, Mayo |
| Defenders: | Sanderson, Aiwu, Roberts, Long, Buchanan, Longelo, Oakley |
| Midfielders: | Bielik, Sunjic, Chang, Bacuna, James, Hall, Gardner, Khela, Miyoshi, Anderson, Donovan |
| Forwards: | Roberts, Burke, Hogan, Stansfield, Jutkiewicz, Dembele, Dixon |
Stoke team news
Ben Pearson will return for Stoke City with the midfielder serving his due suspension after the accumulation of yellow cards.
Ben Wilmot will miss the fixture due to a knee concern with Luke McNally taking the former's spot in the eleven.
Stoke City predicted XI: Bonham; Hoever, McNally, Rose, Gooch; Burger, Laurent, Bae; Tchamadeu, Vidigal, Mmaee
| Position | Players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers: | Bonham, Fielding, Noukeu |
| Defenders: | Gooch, Wilmot, McNally, Clark, Rose, Stevens, Hoever, Tchamadeu |
| Midfielders: | Burger, Baker, Vidigal, Johnson, Junho, Laurent |
| Forwards: | Mmaee, Campbell, Gayle, Wesley, Haksabanovic, Jojic, Leris |
Head-to-Head Record
| Date | Match | Competition |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Apr 2023 | Birmingham 0-0 Stoke | Championship |
| 5 Nov 2022 | Stoke 1-2 Birmingham | Championship |
| 19 Feb 2022 | Stoke 2-2 Birmingham | Championship |
| 14 Aug 2021 | Birmingham 0-0 Stoke | Championship |
| 10 Apr 2021 | Birmingham 2-0 Stoke | Championship |