How do Birmingham City's first 5 fixtures of 2024/25 compare to Wrexham AFC | OneFootball

How do Birmingham City's first 5 fixtures of 2024/25 compare to Wrexham AFC?

EFL fans up and down the country will have been excited ahead of Wednesday's fixture release date, and will now be looking to plan their weekends from August to May now that their team's schedule has been revealed.

Birmingham City and Wrexham supporters will be looking forward to the 2024/25 League One season, but for differing reasons, as the Blues are striving for an immediate Championship return following last season's relegation, whereas the Red Dragons are testing their mettle in the third tier following back-to-back promotions from the National League to League One.

As ever, it will be vital for both of these clubs to have a strong start to their respective campaigns and this is how their first five fixtures look:

Wrexham have a tougher start to the season than Birmingham

League One is a tough division in which there are no easy games, and over the last few years the third tier of English football has arguably become stronger than ever, with the likes of Sunderland and Ipswich Town taking four seasons to win promotion back to the Championship.

But Wrexham could feel the gulf in class between League Two and League One a little bit more than they would have done if the fixture list had been a little bit kinder to the Red Dragons.

Phil Parkinson's men travel to two of last season's top-six in their opening five games, including a visit to play-off finalists Bolton Wanderers for their first away trip of the season.

After last season's near miss, Ian Evatt's side will be determined to win promotion this time around, and a home fixture against a newly promoted team is exactly the sort of game they will be looking to take all three points from.

Another away trip for the Red Dragons to Peterborough United, who finished fourth last campaign, could also be viewed as a difficult prospect.

The Racecourse Ground faithful will be excited about an early season clash with local rivals Shrewsbury Town on home soil though, especially after their side defeated Paul Hurst's men in the FA Cup back in January.

Meanwhile, Birmingham supporters will be pleased to see that their side's first match of the season is at St Andrew's, despite the fact that three of their opening five games are away from home.

But visits to sides such as Leyton Orient and Exeter City, who both finished mid-table last time out, will not worry the Blues fans too much, while it remains to be seen how Orient will do in their second season back in League One following their promotion in 2023.

The Blues and Red Dragons face each other early in 2024/25

The sixth game of the campaign on Saturday 14th September pits the newly relegated Blues up against the freshly promoted Red Dragons, which will be an intriguing encounter.

If the Welsh outfit are able to use their momentum in recent years to overcome the challenges of Bolton and Peterborough in their opening five games, then the Blues could be in for an uncomfortable afternoon at St Andrew's.

While Chris Davies' men still have several players in their squad who played for the club in the Championship, the Red Dragons have players who were playing in the National League just two seasons ago, which gives the Blues the upper hand on paper.

But if Davies has a tough start to life in the dugout for the West Midlands side, Parkinson's men are capable of earning a victory, especially if they are able to make a decent start to the campaign despite some tricky fixtures.