The Lowdown: Everything You Need To Know About Aitor Karanka's Blues

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The Lowdown: Everything You Need To Know About Aitor Karanka's Blues

Sky Bet Championship outfit Birmingham City will be Leicester City's first pre-season opposition of the summer on Wednesday (1pm kick-off).

2020-08-25T13:57:00.000Z

The Lowdown: Everything You Need To Know About Aitor Karanka's Blues

Sky Bet Championship outfit Birmingham City will be Leicester City's first pre-season opposition of the summer on Wednesday (1pm kick-off).

2020-08-25T13:57:00.000Z

The Lowdown: Everything You Need To Know About Aitor Karanka's Blues

Sky Bet Championship outfit Birmingham City will be Leicester City's first pre-season opposition of the summer on Wednesday (1pm kick-off).

2020-08-25T13:57:00.000Z

The Lowdown: Everything You Need To Know About Aitor Karanka's Blues

Sky Bet Championship outfit Birmingham City will be Leicester City's first pre-season opposition of the summer on Wednesday (1pm kick-off).

2020-08-25T13:57:00.000Z

The Lowdown: Everything You Need To Know About Aitor Karanka's Blues

Sky Bet Championship outfit Birmingham City will be Leicester City's first pre-season opposition of the summer on Wednesday (1pm kick-off).

2020-08-25T13:57:00.000Z

With the 2020/21 campaign - the Club's seventh consecutive year in the Premier League - on the horizon, LCFC.com examines City's maiden pre-season opponents in detail...

The squad

After going 14 consecutive Championship matches without a win at the end of the 2019/20 season, Birmingham City finished in 20th place in the second tier last term.

Now under the guidance of former Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka, Blues supporters are hopeful of a more competitive showing in the Championship next time around.

The signing of full-back George Friend from Boro represents the Midlands club's only business of the summer window so far, while four players have left St. Andrew's Stadium.

These include Álvaro Giménez (Cádiz), Lee Camp (released) and Wes Harding (Rotherham United), while teenage sensation Jude Bellingham joined German giants Borussia Dortmund in June.

However, Karanka will still have the attacking firepower of Lukas Jutkiewicz next season after the ex-Coventry City, Middlesbrough and Burnley striker netted 15 goals last time out.

The manager

In the dugout for Birmingham next season will be Aitor Karanka - a man with experience of winning promotion to the Premier League with Middlesbrough in 2015/16.

Formerly a midfielder for Athletic Bilbao, Real Madrid and the Colorado Rapids, who won one cap for Spain's national team, Karanka has earned a strong reputation in coaching too.

Following a spell as the manager of Spain's Under-16s side, José Mourinho appointed the Vitoria-born coach as his assistant manager at Real Madrid in the summer of 2010.

Karanka was a trusted lieutenant of Mourinho over a three-year spell, where they lifted the La Liga title in 2011, alongside success in the Copa del Rey and the Supercopa de España.

Since then, meanwhile, the 46-year-old guided Middlesbrough to the Championship runners-up spot in 2016, before a short tenure at Nottingham Forest between 2018 and 2019.

Form guide

Under the management of Pep Clotet - and the caretaker guidance of Steve Spooner and Craig Gardner - Birmingham endured a difficult ending to their 2019/20 Championship season, going 14 fixtures without a win from 15 February onwards.

Their form beforehand, though, which included 10 games unbeaten over the festive and New Year period, enabled Blues to stay up by a margin of just two points at the end of the campaign.

That period included a 1-0 reverse to Leicester City at King Power Stadium on 4 March, 2020, as Ricardo Pereira's late header was enough for the Foxes to reach the Emirates FA Cup Quarter-Finals.

In pre-season, on the other hand, Birmingham were held to a 1-1 draw by Charlton Athletic on Saturday, with Caolan Boyd-Munce cancelling out Alfie Doughty's early opener for the Addicks.

Previous encounters

Leicester City have won 58 of their competitive previous clashes with Blues, drawing on 26 occasions and losing out 51 times, most recently in the Championship in October 2011.

The Foxes are unbeaten in their last six league and cup encounters with the Birmingham outfit, a run which was extended back in March at King Power Stadium.

Their most recent league meeting, meanwhile, came in January 2014 as City closed in on the Championship title with Lloyd Dyer and Jamie Vardy finding the net in a 2-1 away win.

In the pre-season before 2015/16, Claudio Ranieri's Leicester side came from behind in a 3-2 friendly success, courtesy of goals from Robert Huth, Danny Drinkwater and Shinji Okazaki.

Trophy cabinet

Birmingham City are four-time second-tier champions, lifting the title in 1893, 1921, 1948 and 1955, while finishing runners-up in 1894, 1901, 1903, 1972, 1985, 2007 and 2009.

Due to not often falling to such depths, Blues have just one third tier title to their name, secured in 1995, three years after finishing as runners-up.

Like Leicester, Birmingham are yet to win the FA Cup, although the Midlands outfit have reached two finals, losing out to West Bromwich Albion in 1931 and Manchester City in 1956.

However, their last major domestic honour game came in 2011 as Alex McLeish's men stunned Arsenal in the League Cup Final, thanks to goals from Nikola Žigić and Obafemi Martins.

That triumph was their second such success in the League Cup, following a memorable 3-1 win over rivals Aston Villa in the two-legged 1963 showpiece.

The stadium

St. Andrew's Trillion Trophy Stadium is based in the Bordesley district of Birmingham and has been the club's home since 1906 - over a century of Blues' 145-year history.

In the early 1990s, a six-year development led eventually to today's seated capacity of 29,409, enabling the venue to stage England youth team fixtures at all levels.

On 11 February, 1939, St. Andrew's hosted it's largest-ever crowd for an FA Cup Fifth Round tie against Everton, with a reported 67,341 people in attendance.

Last term, the stadium hosted Coventry City - leading to a bizarre cup clash between the two in which both sides were designated as 'home' and 'away' sides across two ties.

Please note that Wednesday's game will be staged at Birmingham City's training ground, behind closed doors, but can be viewed for free on LCFC TV.

Upcoming games

As well as facing Leicester City, Birmingham also face Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday 29 August (3pm kick-off) before hosting Walsall on Tuesday 1 September (3pm kick-off).

Their season then begins with a League Cup First Round tie against Cambridge United at St. Andrew's on Saturday 5 September (3pm kick-off).

Blues' maiden five games of the new Championship campaign includes encounters with Brentford (H), Swansea City (A), Rotherham United (H), Stoke City (A) and Sheffield Wednesday (H).

All times BST.

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