Champions leaders are the favorites here for me.

Burnley's season is fantastic so far. At the top of the table after 23 rounds, with the best attack of the league with 46 goals scored, one of the best defenses with just 24 conceded, and the best home team with 28 points and unbeaten after 12 rounds.

They have a very strong squad and the aim of achieving automatic promotion, after last season’s relegation from the Premier League. And they are going well, as are already 8 points above 3rd placed Blackburn.

Just before the WC break achieved an impressive winning run against strong teams like Middlesbrough, QPR and Blackburn, beating all of them easily and scoring three goals in each game.

No important absences for coach Kompany for this match, with Morocco's player Zaroury back from the World Cup and fully available.

On the other hand, Birmingham also had a promotion target (or at least fight for the playoff), but their season so far is so poor. Sitting 14th on the table, but just three points below the playoff zone.

They are lacking consistency, are not able to achieve a good winning run - they achieved just two times this season so far two consecutive victories: back in September and October.

Birmingham has quality and is a difficult team to beat, especially in one of those days where they show their best. Already showed this in the previous game played in October against Burley where they drew 1-1 in a very tight match. But Burnley’s level is amazing, they are in great form, scoring goals easily and flying in the league. So if hosts are at their best level they should be totally able to achieve the three points here.

本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

冠军和领跑者是我的最爱。

伯恩利这个赛季到目前为止非常棒。23轮过后，他们以46球的进球数高居榜首，防守最好的球队之一仅失24球，主场最好的球队28分，12轮过后保持不败。

他们拥有一支非常强大的阵容，在上赛季从英超降级后，他们的目标是自动升级。他们进展顺利，已经领先第三名布莱克本8分。

就在WC假期之前，他们在对阵米德尔斯堡、QPR和布莱克本等强队时取得了令人印象深刻的胜利，轻松击败了所有强队，每场比赛都进了3球。

在这场比赛中，主教练孔帕尼没有重要的缺席，摩洛哥球员扎罗利从世界杯归来，完全可以上场。

另一方面，伯明翰也有一个升级目标(或至少为季后赛而战)，但他们的赛季到目前为止太糟糕了。排在积分榜第14位，但只比季后赛区低3分。

他们缺乏稳定性，无法取得良好的连胜——本赛季到目前为止，他们只取得了两次两连胜:在9月和10月。

伯明翰有实力，是一支很难击败的球队，尤其是在他们表现最好的时候。在10月份对阵伯利的比赛中，他们已经表现出了这一点，当时他们在一场非常激烈的比赛中以1-1战平。但是伯恩利的水平是惊人的，他们状态很好，进球很容易，在联赛中飞翔。所以，如果东道主处于最佳状态，他们应该完全能够达到这三点。