Steve Bruce: Aston Villa and Birmingham City fans must control their passions
Steve Bruce has appealed for both Villa and Blues supporters to behave themselves and control their passions at the Second City derby.
The Villa boss is eager for there to be no repeat of the scenes which marred the EFL Cup match between West Ham and Chelsea, when fighting broke out between rival supporters in the stands.
Bruce, who managed Blues between 2001 and 2007, expects a hot reception on his return to St Andrews but does not want to see the "banter" spill over into anything more sinister.
"Am I going to get a bit of banter, a bit of stick?" he said. "Of course. It's good-hearted banter, if that makes sense.
"What we don't want, for our Second City, is a repeat of what we saw last night.
"They are ugly scenes we don't want to see at football matches again. For all the supporters going, yes, shout loud and make your feelings known but remember to behave yourselves too. It's important for the image of both sets of clubs."
The game is the first meeting between the rivals at St Andrews since January 2011. Defensive duo Tommy Elphick (calf) and Micah Richards (knee) are both set to miss out though winger Albert Adomah is fully recovered from an ankle injury and expected to start.
