Match information: Micky Mellon’s men travel to Birmingham this Sunday lunchtime, in the hope of building on the performance shown Tuesday night (in a 2-1 home victory against Aston Villa Under 21s – Leasing.com trophy). The fixture will be played at Birmingham City stadium, St Andrews, due to failing to agree a deal at the Ricoh Arena. Mark Robins’ side are situated in the battle for play offs, after an impressive start meaning they’ve lost one game of their first eleven. Both sides will be looking to get back to winning ways in the third-tier, with Rovers losing 1-0 at home to Shrewsbury Town last Saturday, while Coventry were beaten 4-0 on their travels versus Rotherham United. The fixture will be shown on Sky Sports, Tranmere’s first televised game since their Wembley promotion to league one in May.
Team news: Tranmere will be without the services of 12 players : Jennings (suspended last week at home against Burton Albion), Ponticelli (unavailable due to a part of his loan agreement with his former side), Danns (international duty with Guyana), Perkins, Nelson, Woods, Ferrier, Maddox, Miller, Gumbs, Ellis, Wilson all remain sidelined due to injury. Coventry City have provided no team news for Sunday’s fixture at St Andrews.
One to watch: Forward Jordy Hiwula has scored four goal for Coventry City, this season. Hiwula joined Coventry in the summer of 2018 and has since played for the Sky Blues over 50 times. He began his career at Manchester City, coming through the youth ranks before signing a professional deal. He has since had loans at : Yeovil Town, Walsall, Huddersfield Town, Wigan Athletic, Bradford City and Fleetwood Town.
Match officials: Darren Drysdale will be the man in the middle of the Sky Blues clash against Tranmere in Sky Bet League One. So far this season Drysdale has officiated: 4 League One games 4 League Two games 2 Carabao Cup games 2 Leasing.com Trophy games
Drysdale has officiated in 12 games during the 2019/20 campaign giving a total of 46 yellow cards and one red card so far.
This will be Drysdale’s first Sky Blues game of the season, with his last fixture coming in the 2-1 defeat away at Fratton Park against Portsmouth in 2019.
He will be assisted by Kevin Howick and Gary Maskell, whilst Leigh Doughty will be fourth official.
Past meetings: Tranmere Rovers have played Coventry City 20 times, winning seven, drawing three and losing 10 of their meetings with the Sky Blues.
Did you know: The Sky Blues and Tranmere Rovers have never played out a draw in all their league games against each other. The only draws between the two clubs have come in cup competitions. Also, ex Club captain Steve Jennings has played his football at Coventry City (2012/13).