Kevin Phillips: Blues will be up for derby clash with Wolves

I know the Molineux faithful won’t thank me for this but it’s a game that has some fantastic memories for me, writes Kevin Phillips.

It was back in February 2010 that I played for Birmingham against Wolves at St Andrew’s.

We were 1-0 down and I came off the bench with about 20 minutes remaining. I will always remember Alex McLeish saying to me: ‘come on Kev, get on and get us a couple of goals.’

He said it like it was the easiest thing in the world. I think it was a little bit tongue-in-cheek. But deep down he meant it.

And I went on and managed to score in the 80th minute and again in the 85th to secure a 2-1 win. The game was live on TV, and Jamie Redknapp gave me man of the match.

It was dramatic. And I’m sure tonight’s game is going to be just as exciting.

Whenever these teams meet there is always a cracking atmosphere. Wolves will look upon it as a big opportunity to extend their lead at the top of the Championship.

But Birmingham need a result to try to climb away from the bottom of the table. There is a lot riding on it, and that will crank up the atmosphere even further.

A lot of people think Wolves will win comfortably but I don’t think that’ll be the case.

Blues will try and turn it into a scrap. They have a manager who wears his heart on his sleeve.

And while they are the home team, I think they’ll be quite cautious early on due to the way Wolves are playing. They can’t go gung-ho because if you do that against Wolves they will pick you off and win the game.

Blues will have a game plan and they will want to stick to it. They’ll aim to get the crowd behind them by winning tackles and second balls. Steve Cotterill (pictured right) will be telling his players to put a marker down. So for that reason I can’t imagine it’ll be a game full of goals.

Blues haven’t scored many this year and while Wolves have shown when they firing they can score at ease – I think the Blues players will be determined to do everything they can to stop them breaking through.

It’s going to be an intriguing encounter and it wouldn’t surprise me if Blues nicked a draw. It’s a tight, little pitch there. It’s certainly not as big as Molineux and that might hinder the Wolves players a little bit.

But I do think the result will come down to Blues’ game plan and how well they implement it.

If they can make it scrappy early on and frustrate Wolves they will have a chance.

But if Nuno Espírito Santo’s men grab an early goal, you’d think they’d then have enough quality to go on and claim another three points.

Over the weekend, we saw Alan Pardew make a steady start to life as Albion boss.

A 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace isn’t the worst result in the world. But as the home team the Baggies really would have wanted to win that game.

They were playing against a team below them in the table and, if I’m being honest, I expected Albion to nick a victory.

With a new manager coming in, the crowd would have been up for it and the players would have raised their game because everyone starts with a clean slate.

I looked at the line-up and it wasn’t too dissimilar to what Tony Pulis was picking. And Pardew will be disappointed they haven’t scored because it’s another game without a goal.

He did say in his press conference he would find it difficult to get his ideas across before the Palace game.

There is a lot of work to be done on the training ground and I think this week is a really important one for Alan.

He will get his teeth into them. I know he likes to take a lot of of the training sessions along with John Carver.

I’m sure he will be putting on double sessions, he will be doing a lot of 11 v 11s so he gets a good look at all the players. And he has to get his ideas across because they play Swansea next and that is a real six-pointer.

Albion couldn’t break Crystal Palace down at home but the Swans really are fighting for their lives. Pardew will expect to come away from Liberty Stadium having scored a goal and having not lost the game.

It’s a huge match at such an early stage in his Albion career.

One manager who has made a flying start to life at a new club, though, is Sam Allardyce at Everton.

He’s overseen one game from the stands and taken full charge of the other.

But it’s two clean sheets and two wins and that has moved them up to 10th in the Premier League.

Big Sam isn’t daft. As soon as Everton approached him he would have analysed that squad to see how far he can take it.

They will have to settle for mid-table survival this year.

But next season could be huge for Everton with Sam able to spend money he’s never really had in his career.