Birmingham City vs Cardiff City
18th January 1500hrs
Football – England – EFL Championship
Pick Away Win & BTTS
Bookmaker Bet365
Odds: 9/2 odds taken 13:00 GMT, Thursday 16 January
Neil Harris’ Cardiff City were hit for six in their last away match in the EFL Championship. Can the unpredictable Bluebirds strike back and pick up their third league away win of the season this Saturday? Cardiff travel to St Andrew’s to face Pep Clotet’s Birmingham City, who have not won at home in the Championship since October. This is a fascinating fixture in England’s second tier.
Table of Contents
Birmingham City Preview – Will the Blues make it three victories on the spin?
Pep Clotet has made an indifferent start to life at St Andrew’s. The Spaniard was initially brought in on an interim basis, but he was given the job full time in December. So far, the Blues have won nine, drawn five and lost 13 of their 27 league matches.
Birmingham’s poor first-half to the season has them languishing in 18th spot with 19 matches left to play. They are closer to the bottom three than the play-offs, as City find themselves just eight points ahead of 22nd-place Barnsley.
Last time out, though, Birmingham picked up a crucial three points at struggling Luton Town. They also recently beat Blackburn Rovers in the cup, but the victory at Kenilworth Road was their first league win in over a month.
Birmingham have one of the worst home records in the second tier, winning just five of 14. The Blues have failed to win at St Andrew’s in Championship action since beating Luton 2-1 way back in October. Clotet’s men need to put that right sooner rather than later.
Cardiff City Preview – Can the Bluebirds pick up a rare away win?
Cardiff City have been hard to beat under Neil Harris, losing only two of 11 Championship matches. However, the Bluebirds crashed to a humbling defeat at Queens Park Rangers on New Year’s Day in their last away league match. Since then, though, City held rivals Swansea City to a goalless draw in the Welsh capital last weekend and beat Carlisle United in an FA Cup replay.
Cardiff don’t lose many, but no side in the second tier have drawn more games than the Welsh outfit up until now, as 11 of their 27 matches have ended level. Also, Cardiff have won just nine times in the Championship.
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Harris’ troops still have eyes for the top six. At the time of writing, Cardiff are just four points behind sixth place. However, if the Bluebirds want to be involved in the end-of-season lottery, their form away from the Cardiff City Stadium will need to improve drastically. City have won just twice on the road, although both of those victories have come since Harris joined.
