Dean Smith has reminded Birmingham City of his record against the Blues ahead of their Carabao Cup clash against Norwich City.
John Eustace's side will head to Carrow Road on Tuesday night for the first round of the League Cup after a decent start in the Championship this season. Birmingham currently find themselves in fourth place with four points after a 2-1 win against Huddersfield Town on Friday followed by a goalless draw versus Luton on the opening day.
Norwich loanee Przemyslaw Placheta scored the winner for the Blues against the Terriers after Scott Hogan put them in front at St Andrew's. Norwich, on the other hand, have not had the start they'd have hoped for.
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The Canaries are one of the favourites for promotion this season but got off to a disappointing start after a 1-0 defeat against Cardiff City on the opening day. Max Aarons rescued a point for City in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Wigan but the Canaries are currently one place above the relegation zone after two games, though nobody expects them to stay there much longer.
Dean Smith has confirmed that he will be looking to shuffle his starting line-up against Birmingham on Tuesday night, with Brazilian midfielder Gabriel Sara, a summer signing from Sao Paulo, set to make his first start. Looking ahead to his first clash against Birmingham as Norwich boss, Smith referenced his previous record against the Blues as manager of Brentford and Aston Villa.
In his pre-match press conference, Smith said: "They've had a good start. We watched the game against Huddersfield on Friday and they were very good for the first 50 minutes and then I thought Huddersfield came into the game.
"They [Birmingham] got a really battling performance against Luton for their first game. I expect them to change quite a lot of players as well. I've got quite a decent record against Birmingham, so I'm quite happy about that."
Dean Smith has come up against the arch-rivals of his boyhood club Aston Villa on eight occasions in his managerial career. As Brentford boss, Smith's first two meetings with Birmingham ended in defeat but the current Norwich boss has enjoyed a six-game unbeaten run against the Blues since then, winning five of them.
His Brentford side defeated Steve Cotterill's Blues 5-0 at Griffin Park in February 2018 and Smith also enjoyed two wins in both Birmingham derbies he encountered as Aston Villa manager. A 4-2 win at Villa Park was followed by a 1-0 win at St Andrew's during the 2018/19 season, with Villa going on to claim promotion via the play-offs that year.
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