Birmingham City v Newcastle United
Football : England : Premier League
Saturday 18th December 2010 – Kickoff 3pm

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Birmingham City revert back to relative safety in their own back yard this weekend as the Blues prepare for Newcastle United's visit to St Andrews.

Birmingham City (16th)

Following the Blues 0-1 derby loss at Wolves last Sunday, Birmingham City now find themselves in familiar territory, hovering just above the relegation places in the lower reaches of the Premiership.

A dismal display at Molineux now sees the Blues in 16th spot, and they will no doubt be keen to bounce back from that poor performance, and manager Alex McLeish fully expects a reaction in his pre-match notes.

That said, Birmingham City have lost just once at home and that was back in early October when they lost 0-2 to David Moyes Everton.

Since then, Birmingham have put together a four match unbeaten run at St Andrews including wins over Blackpool 2-0 and an unexpected, but very welcome, 1-0 win over then league leaders Chelsea.

They have kept four clean sheets out of the eight home games this season which is a pretty good ratio, but once again it’s at the business end of the pitch where they are found wanting. As a result, Blues have drawn too many games due to a lack of cutting edge in attack.

The Blues home record certainly reflects this; 3-4-1 8/6, and along with Manchester City & Wigan Athletic, they are the lowest goalscorers at home in the division.

Birmingham City Team news :
Defenders Liam Ridgewell and Martin Jiranek have both recovered from the flu, but Aleksander Hleb and James McFadden are still both ruled out through ankle and knee injuries respectively.

Newcastle United (8th)

Today’s visitors Newcastle United hit the headlines last week with the shocking decision to sack manager Chris Hughton. Alan Pardew is the unexpected replacement, and started well with a 3-1 win over Liverpool, but who's to say Hughton wouldn't have managed the same result?

Anyhow, The Magpies have now climbed up to eighth place as a result, but will need to improve on their away performances if they are to sustain a top half finish this term.

The Newcastle away stats read a shaky 3-1-4 8/15, and they have lost their last two on the road, 1-5 at Bolton Wanderers and 1-3 at West Brom – conceding 8 of their 15 goals in the last two matches!

However, the calvary is on the way as defenders Fabricio Coloccini and Mike Williamson are both available again following suspension.
Goalkeeper Steve Harper could also return following surgery on his shoulder, but Dan Gosling, Ryan Taylor and Hatem Ben Arfa are all out through injury, while striker Shola Ameobi is a major doubt with a hamstring, along with defender Sol Campbell (illness).

It's also worth noting that Newcastle have failed to score just once on their travels this season, and that was at the beginning of the season when they lost 0-3 at Manchester United.

Head-to-head :

There have been five draws in the last ten matches between these two sides, and perhaps no coincidence that all five draws have been at St Andrews?!

The Betting Verdict :

Birmingham City are generally a hard team to beat on their own patch, but lack that cutting edge up front to convert draws into wins.

Newcastle will have a tighter defensive set up for this fixture, but could be missing Ameobi up front. I think both teams will cancel each other out in another dour encounter at St Andrews.

The Statistics :

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Main Pick: Take the Draw @ 3.35 with Pinnacle Sports

Side Bet: Consider an exact score bet on a 1-1 draw which is paying 6.00 with bet365