Birmingham City boss Garry Monk believes that the atmosphere at Villa Park will prove to be on another level for his players ahead of the second city derby on Sunday afternoon.
Monk’s men head into the game as underdogs, but are just one spot behind Dean Smith’s side in the table.
Monk believes that his charges have the experience to deal with the fixture, but knows that the atmosphere will be a learning curve for his young players.
“We have gone to scenarios where they have been tough environments for us,” Monk told his pre-match press conference.
“Leeds away, Stoke away, tough to perform especially when it becomes emotional in those games.
“We have dealt with them really well, it’s been a really big learning curve for the team and they have adapted well in those situations.
“This will be another level above that but we need to take that experience where we have gone to hostile places, big crowds, dealt with the game situation really, really well and managed the game how we wanted.
“That’s going to be vitally important in this game and it would be another big step forward if we could do that in a game of this magnitude.”
The former Swansea City manager’s side travel to Villa Park on Sunday for a 12pm kick off.