3 things we clearly learnt about Birmingham City after their 2-0 win v West Brom | OneFootball

Birmingham City sprung a surprise on Friday evening to pick up a comfortable 2-0 win over in-form West Bromwich Albion.

Hannibal Mejbri will grab the headlines for catching David Button off-guard to curl a long range free kick into the bottom right corner, but John Eustace would have been pleased with a lot of aspects of the display outside that moment of brilliance.

Both of the Blues’ goals did come from set pieces, with Krystian Bielik heading home in the second half, but they restricted Albion so well to ensure that the result never really seemed in doubt.

Back-to-back wins following their dramatic 4-3 victory at Swansea City will have relieved a lot of pressure on Eustace as the Blues hurtled towards the bottom portion of the table after the World Cup break.

Here, we have taken a look at three things we clearly learnt about the Blues after their win over West Brom…

Set piece threat

Carlos Corberan has been a master of set piece situations in the second tier in recent seasons, and therefore to catch them out on two separate occasions is a huge credit to the work that Eustace and his staff are doing on the training ground.

Mejbri’s goal was quite out of the blue, and possibly not something that the Blues had worked on in their preparation, but with Auston Trusty coming up with the goods at Swansea last weekend, and then Bielik heading home, it just goes to show how crucial set plays are and the impact they can have in such a tight division like the Championship.

Back to pre-World Cup levels

The Blues had won two matches since the World Cup break, a 3-2 win over Reading at home along with last weekend’s triumph in South Wales.

However, looking at the performances it took to win those two matches, neither were wholly convincing, where last night’s win certainly was.

Tahith Chong looked back to his menacing best, the Dutchman is a huge asset to the Blues when onsong and can give their attacking contingent a completely fresh look and impetus.

If they can sustain this level of performance, there is no reason why they cannot be targeting a top half finish.

Defensive masterclass

Dion Sanderson has quietly been one of the better performing defenders in the second tier, and he appears to be building a good relationship with Kevin Long at the heart of defence.

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The Blues allowed just five shots for the visitors on the night, with three of those coming from range, not requiring heroics from John Ruddy to get over the line, as has been a little too common at times this season.

The victory saw them keep a clean sheet after failing to do so for seven matches, and given West Brom’s form heading into the fixture it should do wonders for the confidence of the squad.