Birmingham City V Barnsley
Tuesday 21st August 2019 – 19:45 Kick-Off
English Championship
Pick: Barnsley or Draw (Double Chance)
Odds: 7/10
Bookmaker: MarathonBet
 |
1 | X | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13/10 | 11/5 | 23/10 |
* (All betting odds displayed were correct as of 19th August 2019 at 15:30)
Preview: A couple of former Premier League clubs meet at St Andrews on Tuesday night as Birmingham City host Barnsley in the EFL Championship. Both these teams have identical records coming into this fixture, which could mean a close encounter is on the cards. Their most recent meeting occurred a couple of seasons ago, in the 2017/18 Championship, with Barnsley 2-0 victors at home and away.
EFL Championship Betting with 22Bet
Birmingham City Preview – City’s woes show little signs of disappearing?
Even at this early stage, Birmingham are a cause for concern. A 1-0 win away at Brentford on the opening weekend looked like a brilliant result, with Kristian Pedersen scoring a superb header, but that was their only meaningful effort on the Brentford goal in the whole game whilst giving up a host of scoring chances up the other end. It was an incredibly fortuitous outcome to say the least.
It hasn’t taken very long for Birmingham’s luck to run out, though, with their process clearly not improving, as they have subsequently drew at home to Bristol City (1-1) and been comfortably beaten away at Nottingham Forest (3-0). Their four points from a possible nine has them in 15th position heading into fixture and would appear to be a reasonable start to the campaign, but their process has been so poor thus far that Infolgol rates them as the worst team in the division.
Much to improve on then for caretaker manager Pep Clotet, the 42-year-old Spaniard who has seemingly struggled to stamp his authority on this Birmingham side. He has, however, inherited a mid-table side that could only finish in 17th last season. Although, Birmingham did end proceedings unbeaten in the last seven matches (W2 D5). That so many of those outcomes were draws, not to mention scoring more than one goal on just two occasions during this spell, diminishes some of the sheen.
Best Birmingham Bet – Under 1.5 Team Goals @ 61/100 MarathonBet? Birmingham have only scored twice in three matches so far this season, with both goals coming in separate games. They haven’t scored more than once in a league game in their previous five attempts, doing so on just one occasion in the last seven games staged at St Andrews.
Barnsley Preview – Tykes to continue positive momentum?
Last season’s runners-up from League One have made a steady enough start to life back in the Championship, registering four out of a possible nine points. The full 100% of those points, though, were obtained from home encounters, against Fulham (1-0) and Charlton (2-2), with The Tykes still searching for their first away points after coming unstuck at Sheffield Wednesday (L2-0) second time out.
Daniel Stendel’s team were decent enough on their travels in League One last season. Their away record overall (W11 D5 L7, GF40 GA23) finished as the fourth-best in the entire division at the end of the campaign, while only Portsmouth bettered their tally of 40 away goals at a rate of nearly two a game (1.74) – although this did come at the expense of more goals conceded compared with back at home (23 v 16).
Unfortunately for them their first outing in this league produced a blank in that aforementioned result at Sheffield Wednesday. The Tykes created five fewer efforts on target on that particular occasion but the fact they enjoyed more of the ball might imply they can dictate matters a lot better against a struggling Birmingham side with a very poor process.
Best Barnsley Bet – Barnsley Win to NIL @ 5/1 SkyBet? Barnsley last three away wins, all coming during last season’s League One, were without conceding a goal, with The Tykes keeping a clean sheet in four of their previous seven away encounters.
Birmingham V Barnsley Key facts:
- Birmingham have lost none of their last five league games as the home side but only one was in a victory (W1 D4).
- Barnsley have lost two of their last four away league matches (W2 L2) but have kept a clean sheet in four of their past seven such fixtures.
- The two teams last competed against each other during the 2017/18 Championship, with Barnsley coming out on top on both occasions without conceding.
Betting Summary
Uninspiring up until now, Birmingham look a definite no go area for me at odds only marginally better than evens. They’ve only scored two goals in their opening three fixtures and could consider themselves extremely fortunate to have that many, according to Infolgol’s Expected Goals model. They’ve now failed to score more than one goal in their last five league games and only once in the past seven as the home side.
Mirroring the form of the hosts are Barnsley, although their dynamic is different due to their recent promotion back into the league. It could have been a great deal better were it not for conceding a late equaliser at home to Charlton at the weekend. The one concern would be their performance first time out away from home where they didn’t create enough at Sheffield Wednesday (L2-0).
Rated as the poorest performing side in the division on current form, Birmingham are uneasy favourites and won’t exactly be brimming with confidence following a resounding 3-0 loss suffered at Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Barnsley, meanwhile, were minutes from securing a second win of the season and would appear to have a better understanding than their opponents.
