For Birmingham to win this match, I feel that they need to score a goal in the first 45 minutes. An early goal would provide an electric atmosphere in the ground and with Rovers not having any motivational drivers other than pride, Birmingham’s greater intensity should ensure they complete a victory. With Mauro Zarate, James McFadden and Mikael Forssell to choose from up front, you would have to favour Birmingham scoring in this match, while Sebastian Larsson has shown great aptitude in scoring from dead ball situations.

The big question mark with Birmingham is whether they can keep Blackburn at bay. In recent weeks, their back line has been a disaster waiting to happen and with lethal predator Santa Cruz lurking and Jason Roberts proving to be a real handful, their defence will face a fierce examination.

One team who were relegated some time ago were Derby County and it is difficult to imagine that there has ever been a team that has been so hopelessly out of its depth in the history of top flight English football. Paul Jewell took over as manager in November and he is still waiting to taste victory in 90 minutes of football.

The only victory Derby have recorded in the six months the former Wigan manager has been in charge of the Rams was in a penalty shoot out against Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup.

Derby can have one final shot of redemption though if they are able to defeat Reading today. The prospect of this occurring would not be so unlikely given that Reading have not only gone six matches without a win at exactly the wrong time of the season, but they have also gone six matches without locating the back of the net.

Not that Coppell has been averse to firing some stray bullets into his foot himself this season. Coppell has been a sensational manager for the Royals the past five years and without him, the Berkshire club would never have reached the promised land of the Premier League. But I feel that Coppell has lost control at times this season when results have gone wrong and this lack of control has filtered through to his players.

This loss of control I feel has been illustrated by two incidents. Firstly, given his club’s great difficulty in scoring goals in the second half of the campaign, I was baffled by his decision to send Leroy Lita out on loan to Charlton Athletic.

Reading have found their second season in the top flight far harder than their first, but that was inevitable. Not only have other teams figured out how to play against them this season, but the loss of Steve Sidwell has not been overcome.

While Sidwell has looked out of his depth on the rare occasions he has featured for Chelsea this season, he was the man who pulled the strings for Reading last season and the Royals have not found anyone else to replicate his creativity. A lack of creativity, combined with a forward line finding goals harder to come by this time around and a slow central defence has been a recipe for disaster.

Coppell’s record in relegation dogfights is not one to write home about. Three times he has managed a team embroiled in a relegation scrap and three times that team has been relegated. He has not had the best of luck in previous relegation fights though, it is fair to say.

In the 1992/93 season, his Crystal Palace side were relegated with 49 points, which even for a 42 match season, is an extraordinarily high number of points to drop down with. He was also very unfortunate to be relegated when manager of Brighton in the Championship in 2002/03 as he took over the club when they had lost twelve of their first fourteen matches of the league campaign, yet they were only relegated on the final day of the season.

Derby’s players have little to play for today except their futures. Paul Jewell has made it clear that he will be making wholesale changes over the summer and many of his players will be keen to avoid the cull, or failing that, will want to impress prospective employers for next season.

I feel that Reading need to get the monkey off their back and score a goal in the early stages of this match. Some of their approach play has been promising in recent matches but they have lacked cutting edge in the final third of the pitch. They will get more chances today, but so too will Derby, and this could end up being a very open game which is likely to provide Alan Hansen with enough material on defensive ineptitude for him to write a thesis.

Fulham start the day in the more favourable position and they find themselves heading to Fratton Park to face a Portsmouth side that are a week away from an FA Cup final and the strong possibility of securing their first major trophy in over 50 years.

Added to this, they are facing a Portsmouth side who have struggled badly for goals at Fortress Fratton this season and who will be missing goalkeeper David James today as he battles for fitness ahead of the Wembley showpiece next Saturday. It is all falling into place for Fulham then.

Well, Fulham would be well served in not getting too far ahead of themselves just yet. It is worth remembering that although Fulham have won their last two matches on their travels, prior to that they had gone an astonishing 34 away matches without registering a single victory. To turn this around by winning three away games in a row and to stay up to boot is the kind of script that Roy of the Rovers would love but turning it into reality is going to be a stiff challenge.

Harry Redknapp has made it plain that his team will not be taking this match lightly. Redknapp has spoken of how he has had his fingers burnt previously when manager of West Ham and Southampton, presiding over a team in a dogfight and seeing relegation rivals benefiting from playing opponents who have rested players when they have nothing to play for.

It is also worth remembering that when these teams played earlier this season at Craven Cottage, the chasm in class between them was about the size of a large ocean. Portsmouth won 2-0 on the day but could have won by at least double that tally, such was their dominance.

It is true to say that Fulham have improved since that match and Portsmouth have produced most of their best performances this campaign away from Fratton Park, but even so, there is quite a gap that Fulham need to bridge on Sunday afternoon if they are to reverse the result of that October fixture.

Fulham’s resurgence of late may have been a source of surprise to some observers, but in truth, the opportunity was always on. Of the teams embroiled in the relegation mire, they had quite comfortably the most favourable run-in and in fact, they spurned a couple of good opportunities before their recent run of three wins in four matches that could and should have seen them out of danger by now.

The improvement in form for Roy Hodgson’s team can be attributed to the return of two of their most talismanic players from long term injuries.

Jimmy Bullard had been out of action for some seventeen months until he returned in February, having sustained an horrific knee ligament injury in only his fourth match for Fulham in September 2006. He quickly showed Fulham what they had been missing by scoring a sensational free kick to secure them a vital win against Aston Villa in his comeback match and soon followed that with another sensational free kick that earned the Cottagers a valuable draw at Blackburn.

As it turned out, McBride made a remarkably quick recovery from this terrible injury and he has returned to the fold just in time to spearhead Fulham’s recovery and in recent weeks, he has contributed some vital goals, including the opener in last weekend’s victory over Birmingham.

Both Bullard and McBride’s performances will be of critical importance to Fulham’s prospects on Sunday.Of course, it would remiss not to give Roy Hodgson great praise for his role in overseeing the Fulham recovery and at least giving his team a chance of survival. The 61 year old is a rare phenomenon, a successful English manager who has made his name far more overseas than in his own country having had a stint as manager of Inter Milan and of the Finnish and Swiss national teams, as well as a host of club sides in Scandinavia.

Hodgson’s calm exterior and his track record ensures that he retains the utmost respect from his players.So let’s cut to the chase. Can Fulham pull off the great escape? Or will this be one match too many for the Cottagers? Of all today’s matches, this one I feel is the one which is most on a knife-edge. Fulham I feel need to ensure they negotiate the first half an hour intact. Their defence has been their undoing on so many occasions this season.

Yet, despite those bald statistics, I think if Fulham get the first goal today, they will get a draw at the very least. I do not feel Portsmouth will be lacking in effort today and certainly there will some players who will be desperately wanting to prove they merit a starting place at Wembley next weekend. But, subconsciously at least, most Portsmouth players will have that match in mind and none of their players will want to pick up an injury that rules them out of the big day.

The absence of David James today is significant as the big stopper has won Portsmouth so many points with his displays this season and his deputy, Jamie Ashdown, is found wanting at this level of football. I can see Portsmouth having a lot of possession and creating some good chances but I have a hunch that Fulham will get chances of their own and will make of them count and despite some desperate defending, I take Roy Hodgson’s side to pull off a memorable 1-0 victory to complete their great escape.