Birmingham City suffered a damaging defeat in their battle to avoid relegation from the Championship on Saturday aternoon.
With Tony Mowbray still absent for medical reasons, Mark Venus once again took charge of Blues as they made the long trip to The Den.
That saw them take on fellow relegation battles Millwall, who snatched a late victory through Japhet Tanganga’s 90th minute header.
As a result, Birmingham City are now 21st in the Championship table, just a point clear of the relegation zone. They are also winless in their last four games.
But for all that concern, the performance of Emanuel Aiwu is at least one positive that Blues can take from this latest setback.
Emanuel Aiwu impresses again
With Dion Sanderson still out due to suspension, Aiwu once again started in the centre of defence for Birmingham City at The Den.
Just as he did in the midweek draw at Hull City, the 23-year-old produced a solid performance, which did not go unnoticed.
Writing about how Aiwu fared in Saturday’s game, the Birmingham Mail said:
“Aiwu is finally stringing together some consistent performances at a time when Blues really need him to. The Austrian was largely faultless at The Den.”
As a result, the centre back was awarded a score of 7/10 for his latest performance for Birmingham City.
The stats from SofaScore do back up that impression of an impressive showing from Aiwu on Saturday.
Against Millwall, the centre back recorded an 86% pass success rate, the most of any Birmingham City starter in that game.
He also won five of his seven duels, and completed five defensive actions over the course of the match.
Meanwhile, the 23-year-old lost possession seven times in the match. Only one Blues starter gave possession away less frequently in the game.
This therefore, looks to have been another strong performance from Aiwu in a Birmingham City shirt.
Birmingham City have a big transfer call to make
Back in the summer transfer window, Aiwu moved to St Andrew’s on a season-long loan from Italian side Cremonese.
As part of the deal, Blues have the option to sign the centre back permanently in this summer’s transfer window.
Initially, Aiwu had seemingly struggled to settle in the Midlands, which may have suggested that was not a deal worth pursuing.
However, he is now starting to produce some improved performances, that may change some views on that particular situation.
Indeed, with Kevin Long having left and Marc Roberts out of contract at the end of the season, they are going to need some central defensive reinforcements come the summer.
So if Aiwu continues to impress in this way, there may be some clamour for a permanent deal, from members of the Birmingham City fanbase.