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2010-12-01 - Birmingham City vs Aston Villa
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Carling Cup
Wednesday 1 December 2010 - Kickoff 7:45pm
This game is live on TV
Birmingham City
Alex McCleish made it clear at the beginning of this competition that his main aim this season was to make sure Birmingham are playing Premier League football again next season. However, it so often happens that these plans are put to bed either at the very latter stages of a cup competition, or when you are drawn with local rivals and pride is playing its part.
The Blues have been given kind draws at each stage of the Carling Cup this season and this has allowed them to rest a number of players in each round. They were forced to win thanks to a penalty shoot out in the last round against Brentford here, that coming after home wins in previous rounds against the MK Dons and Rochdale, all lower League clubs.
Birmingham have started to pick up some form in the Premier League which has them placed above Villa in the table coming into the game. The Blues are 3-3-1 at St Andrews this season, scoring 7 goals and conceding just 5. The side have lost just 1 of their last 8 games in all competitions.
Craig Gardener is in line to return to face his former club. Alexander Hleb is injured and will miss out, but Birmingham are expected to pick a strong line up here.
Aston Villa
Aston Villa lost an important manager at the start of the season in Martin O'Neill, and his replacement Gerard Houllier is still trying to get the players to dance to his tune. The new methods are taking their time to sink in and the long injury list is taking its own toll on the team.
Houllier has a history with the Carling Cup, winning this competition in its different guises twice while in charge of Liverpool earlier this decade. He has seen his side come through 2 rounds previously this season, beating both Blackburn and Burnley at Villa Park although Burnley did manage to force extra time before falling. A win here will also see Villa make a record 14th appearance in the Semi Finals of the League Cup.
The team have been struggling in recent weeks and this has seen them sliding down the Premier League table, below their arch rivals Birmingham. Villa are only 3 points better off than Wigan in 18th and need to improve their 1-1-5 away record where they have scored 5 goals and conceded 15. They have just 1 win in their last 10 games in all competitions (counting the Burnley game as a draw at full time).
James Collins and Gabriel Agbonlahor are both available for selection after overcoming an injury and sickness respectively. Stephen Ireland has been ruled out.
Head to Head
Aston Villa had beaten their local rivals 6 times in a row before their meeting earlier this season which ended 0-0 at Villa Park.
Birmingham have lost 3 in a row here to Villa, scoring just 1 goal in those games.
Prediction
I will have a small interest in the game seeing as it is on TV tomorrow evening, but I must remind all the Carling Cup can be a tough competition to predict (the West Ham win over Manchester United should highlight that).
Both of these teams should be very keen to gain local bragging rights and the carrot of a Semi Final berth should only serve to motivate them further. Neither team has been a heavy scorer either at home or away respectively and all signs point to a low scoring game if we are to go by the meeting they had at Villa Park earlier this season.
It would not surprise me at all if neither team broke the deadlock after 90 minutes but I will instead play the both teams NOT to score. This will be a winner if either or both of the sides fail to score and should keep me interested for a little while at least.
Now cue the 4-4 thriller!!
The Pick :
Birmingham City 0-0 Aston Villa
