Birmingham City went into the Christmas break bottom of the Barclays FA Women’s Super League table.
The Blues have had a tough start to the season with last weekend’s 2-0 defeat at Leicester City sending them below The Foxes into 12th position.
Birmingham City face a big second half of the season but how does their challenge compare to last season’s bottom club Bristol City? FAWSL Full-Time analyse where both clubs have found themselves during the mid-season break.
Both clubs played 10 games at this point with Birmingham City having taken one point from their matches in the first half of this season while last season, Bristol City were also winless but they had two points on the board. Birmingham City’s goal difference of -22 is a whopping 17 better than what Bristol City’s was. The Blues currently find themselves just four goals worse off than Leicester City and six behind Aston Villa. Last season, Bristol City had 27 goals to make up on the next poorest record.
You can look at Birmingham City’s survival challenge from two angles. Firstly, you could say that the Blues are just two points adrift of safety whereas Bristol City had a four-point gap to bridge last season but equally, The Robins were seven points adrift of seventh last Christmas whereas Birmingham City are nine behind 10th position this year.
It is difficult for Darren Carter to pin a survival points target on the board for the Blues given the fact that the relegation battle looks to be a two-horse race between them and Leicester City. The Foxes could invest in January and look to pull away and it could come down to who can collect more points from the games against the teams in the bottom half of the table. Birmingham City have five games remaining against the current bottom six while Leicester City have six games. The Blues have the bonus of having to play Leicester City at St Andrew’s.
Birmingham City’s battle for survival could be made all the more difficult by what happens on the pitch in January. While Leicester City start the year against Reading and Brighton & Hove Albion, Carter’s Blues host Arsenal and travel to Manchester United. Nobody will give Birmingham City at chance in those games and they may need favours from Leicester City’s opponents.
The initial target for Birmingham City will be to keep in touch with Leicester City and assess the situation week-by-week. Whatever The Foxes do, the Blues are likely to have to do the same that little bit better if they are to survive.