[6] Under head coach Aitor Karanka, Birmingham City gradually slid down the 2020–21 Championship table until, with ten games remaining and in serious danger of relegation, former Birmingham player Lee Bowyer resigned as manager of Charlton Athletic to take over as head coach.

[11] After a training camp in Scotland, Birmingham planned five pre-season friendlies: away to Cheltenham Town and Northampton Town, behind-closed-doors games at the Wast Hills training ground against Oxford United – who cancelled due to COVID-19 and were replaced by a Salford City XI[12][13] – and Barrow, and one match at St Andrew's against West Bromwich Albion.

Tate Campbell made his Birmingham debut as a substitute, and Jobe Bellingham, the 15-year-old brother of England international Jude, was also named on the bench.

[71][72] In the second round they fielded a slightly less weakened team, but still made 10 changes from the previous league match, with Mitch Roberts, Dion Sanderson and (as a substitute) Alfie Chang making their first Birmingham appearances and Neil Etheridge returning in goal after recovering from COVID-19.

Opponents Fulham, newly relegated from the Premier League, scored midway through the first half after an error by Ivan Šunjić, but Birmingham held out until stoppage time before conceding a second.