English Premier
2011-02-02 - Birmingham City vs Manchester City
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Premier League
Wednesday 2 February 2011 - Kickoff 7:45pm
Birmingham City
Birmingham have not been in the best of form of late in the Premier League, but successive come from behind wins at home in Cup competitions is sure to fill the players with confidence as they resume the small matter of survival in the League. Alex McCleish strengthened his sides attacking options in this transfer window, an area that Birmingham had clearly been lacking in.
The Blues are 17th in the Premier League but could find themselves in the relegation zone at kick off depending on the result in the West Brom-Wigan game played on Tuesday night. Birmingham are currently 1 point better off than Wigan below them, and have 2 games in hand over many of the teams in and around themselves. They are 3-6-2 at St. Andrews in the League, compiling a 3-6-2 record while scoring just 10 goals and conceding 11.
The back to back Cup wins over West Ham and Coventry will have given the side some belief after failing to win any of their previous 3 games. Those home wins were also their first in 4 games in front of their own fans and those supporters will also feel better that the team found the back of the net with a little more regularity than in most games this season.
Cutis Davies was an interesting signing from local rivals Aston Villa and could make his debut at centre half in the long term absence of Scott Dann. Obafemi Martins was also brought in to provide further attacking options and may have to settle for a place on the bench, while Roger Johnson, Cameron Jerome and Craig Gardener could return to the side after being rested on Saturday.
Manchester City
It was a surprisingly quiet month at the City of Manchester Stadium, even though they did purchase Edin Dzeko for 27 million pounds. With the merry-go-round of transfer activity yesterday involving Liverpool, Chelsea and Newcastle, it seemed inevitable that City would do something, but Roberto Mancini is obviously very content with what he has.
The officials at the club had been curbing the enthusiasm of the home supporters in recent weeks as it looked like a real title challenge may come from the Blue half of Manchester as well as the Red half. However, there is a deficit of 6 points to make up on United at the top of the pile and City have played an extra game. It may be reasonable to think that they may be looking over their shoulders at Chelsea and Tottenham rather than up the table during the close to the season.
City are 6-3-3 away from home this season, scoring 19 goals and conceding 10, giving them the best away defence in the top flight at this moment in time. Only Arsenal have won more away games than City on their travels this season.
Back to back disappointing results in the Midlands means City have not won in 2 weeks, and they only managed 1 goal in the last 2 games. They have won only 1 of their last 5 away games in all competitions, and have not won any of their last 4. On a more positive note for the Citizens, they have lost just 1 of their last 10 away games in all competitions.
Roberto Mancini is expected to make a number of changes to his side from Sunday and should restore the likes of Vincent Kompany, Nigel de Jong and David Silva. Carlos Tevez is hoping to recover from a back injury, but Adam Johnson is now ruled out for the next 3 months.
Head to Head
Birmingham have lost just 1 of their last 4 Premier League games against Manchester City, and are also unbeaten in their last 2 at home against them.
In fact, City have won just 1 of their last 5 away games at Birmingham, losing 3 of those games.
The game last season ended 0-0 here.
Prediction
I was a little disappointed to see the bookmakers price Manchester City up as odds on favourites for this game against a side that has held Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester United and Chelsea at home already this season.
While City are definitely more suited to playing away from home, they have not had that much success when doing so recently and so I am not even close to being tempted at that price.
I already felt this would be a tough game for Manchester City as Birmingham are bound to have confidence levels raised after recent performances at home and the fact that Alex McCleish definitely has injected more quality into his side in the form of David Bentley.
The odds against prices on Birmingham to avoid defeat here is far too tempting when looking at their results in the last 18 months at home in Premier League games and I will have a small interest in the home team to avoid defeat again.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Birmingham City 1-1 Manchester City
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll take Birmingham City + 0.5 Asian Handicap @ 2.05 (1 UNIT)Follow me on Twitter @DavindaAulak- there is a direct link below
