Albion head to St Andrew’s for the fourth time in the last 18 months on Sunday when they take on Birmingham City for a place in the Vitality FA Cup quarter-final.
Albion last reached the semi-finals in 2020 when they lost 3-0 to Arsenal and will hope to improve against their Championship opponents.
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Albion have already knocked out two West Midlands teams to reach the last eight, beating West Brom 7-0 and Coventry United 5-0. Since that game they have lost 3-1 to Chelsea and 2-1 to Manchester City in the WSL.
Birmingham, relegated from the WSL last season, have won five of their last eight in all competitions, including a 1-0 WSL win over Everton in the FA Cup final round. They are currently fourth in the Championship, seven points out of second place with one game remaining.
Amy Merrick’s opinion
Albion’s interim head coach said: “After the last two performances, I feel like we have some momentum. Against Man City, one of the best sides in the country, we deserved a point last Sunday. There are things to work on, but we feel like we’ve found some consistency and now we have to set the bar higher and express ourselves. When we play Birmingham in the Conti Cup we start slowly and we can’t afford to do that on Sunday. They are doing well in the Championship and they have a lot of players with WSL experience, but we want to reach the semi-finals.”
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previous meetings
St Andrew’s was a happy hunting ground for Albion last season. There we won 5-0 in the WSL in September 2021 and a month later Megan Connolly’s goal sealed the 1-0 win in the Conti Cup. We visited St Andrew’s again last October in the same competition and it was the Blues who they prevailed, winning 3-2 despite goals from Geum-Min Lee and Danielle Carter. Birmingham also won the reverse league game at the end of last season, winning 3-1 when Vea Sarri, who would join Albion a few weeks later, was among Birmingham’s goalscorers. Julia Zigiotti was on target for Albion.
player to watch
Winger Jade Pennock scored her seventh goal of the season in Sunday’s 2-2 draw at home to Charlton Athletic.
The 30-year-old scored 29 goals in 67 appearances in three seasons at Sheffield United before joining Darren Carter’s side in the summer. Pennock had a spell in America on both sides of spells with Leeds United and the Doncaster Belles.
How to follow the game
Sunday’s game will be live on FA Player. There will be a match report and reaction on our website after the game.