Man City v Birmingham – Pick: 2 AH-2 – 21 Sept 2011

Blues hoping for damage control...

Sports Betting Tips

MANCHESTER CITY v BIRMINGHAM CITY

Football – England – Carling Cup

Wednesday 21st September 2011 – Kickoff: 1945hrs

Despite the fact that both clubs were in the Premiership as recently as last season, there now exists a huge gulf between them this season with hosts Manchester City making a serious title challenge this time around, at the same time capturing the services of top world-class players such as Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Edin Dzeko, while defending Carling Cup holders Birmingham City scrabble around in the Championship and have lost some key players already.

Manchester City lie in second place to United just two points behind after squandering a seemingly unassailable 2-0 lead at Fulham on the weekend. City led by a brace from Aguero, only to let Fulham back in and earn a surprising point at Craven Cottage.

City’s home league record stands at  2-0-0  7/0 with emphatic wins over Swansea City 4-0 and Wigan Athletic 3-0, and also remain unbeaten away from home too.

I’m unsure as to what team Mancini will put out for tonight’s match with the visit of Everton looking at the weekend, but the likes of Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli, Adam Johnson and Samir Nasri could be in the frame for starts; given the numerous different egos within the squad it is almost an insult to be picked for such matches (Carling Cup) and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of mood Tevez and Balotelli will be in.

The previous two meetings between the two City’s have ended up 2-2 and 0-0, but their respective squad depths couldn’t be further apart nowadays.

Birmingham City have endured a rough couple of matches lately, losing 1-3 at home to Braga in the Europa League and then on the receiving end of a 1-4 spanking at St Mary’s on Sunday against Southampton. They will go into Wednesday night’s match playing three highly competitive matches in the space of seven days, and this will surely take it’s toll on fitness.

Away from home, Birmingham’s form has been dreadful – indeed their only win on the road in their last fifteen matches was a 1-0 win over Cork City in a friendly back in July! The last thing manager Chris Hughton will want prior to their home match against Barnsley on Saturday will be another thrashing, and the formation could well be shuffled back to the McLeish days of a lone striker up front and a five-man midfield to try and combat Manchester City’s quality in the middle of the park, with damage limitation being the name of the game.

Losing by more than 2 goals has happened just twice to Blues in their last fifteen matches (0-5 at Liverpool and 1-4 at Southampton), and together with the prospect of Birmingham having the majority of their team behind the ball at the Etihad Stadium, I’m throwing in a speculative punt of covering the 2-goal handicap…Manchester City to undoubtedly win but by 2-0 on the night.

Pick:  Birmingham City AH-2 @ 1.98 bet365