EFL Championship PREVIEW 28 Aug 2026: Birmingham come to the Racecourse three days after conceding six

Wrexham host Birmingham City on Friday night, and the visitors arrive from the worst evening either club has had this season. Birmingham lost 6-1 at home to Brentford in the Carabao Cup second round on Tuesday, Demarai Gray scoring their consolation before the tie ran away from them. Chris Davies did not look for cover afterwards. "My message to supporters tonight is sorry," he said. "It was a very tough evening for us, a painful evening, and incredibly disappointing to lose a game 6-1 at home. There were many situations where we were just not good enough to compete and I take ultimate responsibility for it."

How much that carries into a league fixture is the question of the night, because Birmingham had made six changes for the cup and are expected to revert to something closer to the side that drew 2-2 at Bristol City, a match they came from behind in twice and rescued through Gray's penalty in stoppage time. Gray has scored in his last two appearances and is in line to start on the left. Max Bird is out for a number of weeks.

Wrexham are still looking for their first league win of the season, having drawn 1-1 with Watford, Danny Imray equalising after Luca Kjerrumgaard had put the visitors ahead. Imray is the full-back Wrexham bought from Crystal Palace for five million pounds in July, which is the shape of the club now. Phil Parkinson has Josh Windass available again after a pre-season calf problem kept him out of the opening three matches: "Windass will definitely be fit for Friday and hopefully we'll have a few more in as well." Ben Sheaf has returned to training. Liberato Cacace remains out with a calf injury. Kieffer Moore is expected to lead the line unless Sam Smith is preferred, and the club are closing on a record move for Issa Kabore, who spent last season on loan at the Racecourse and made 32 appearances with eight assists; if it completes before the deadline he would be on the bench at best.

The two clubs bring very different histories to a Championship fixture. Wrexham's is the Welsh Cup, won a record 23 times, a Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final in 1976 and the afternoon in January 1992 when, having finished bottom of the Football League the previous season, they knocked the holders Arsenal out of the FA Cup 2-1. Birmingham's is two League Cups, in 1963 and against Arsenal in 2011, two FA Cup finals lost in 1931 and 1956, and a Fairs Cup final reached without ever having won the league. Both are recent arrivals in this division from the other direction, Birmingham as League One champions in 2024/25 and Wrexham up as runners-up the same season.