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It’s time for the biggest match of the season: The Second City Derby. For the first time in nearly six years, Aston Villa and Birmingham City are set to renew one of the fiercest rivalries in England in a league match. With Villa riding a two-match winning streak, this has all of the potential to launch Steve Bruce’s playoff campaign into full gear.
Or it could all go terribly wrong at St. Andrew’s and be our worst nightmare.
Not that it actually means much (or anything), but in the last 10 matches between these two clubs, Aston Villa have won 7, drawn 2, and lost only 1. So there’s a bit of form on our side.
Nevertheless, rivalry elements aside, this is a huge match for Villa. If they can keep their run going they will have done a lot to get rid of the mediocre-to-bad results from the beginning of the season. They’re not so far out of the hunt that it will take a miracle, and this would get them right back into the thick of things.
So SOTC, but even more importantly, UTV!
Location: St. Andrew’s Stadium, Birmingham, England
Kick-off time: 1 PM BST, 8 AM Eastern, 5 AM Pacific
Available TV: Sky Sports 2 (UK), beIN SPORTS USA (US, obviously)
Available streaming: beIN SPORTS CONNECT, fuboTV (allows you to stream beIN in the US and Canada. You can sign up here), Sky GO (UK)
Available radio: BBC Radio 5 Live (not online), AVTV (If audio doesn’t work, try using Safari)
Other listings are available from livesoccertv.com.
Aston Villa squad
Team news: Here’s the first XI and subs for today’s derby. Come on you Lions! #BIRAVL #AVFC pic.twitter.com/zOD3V78oYD
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) October 30, 2016