Leicester City Vs Birmingham City
Wednesday, 4 March 2020 – 19:45 Kick-Off
English FA Cup
Pick: Both Teams to Score
Odds: 20/23
Bookmaker: Betfair
(All betting odds displayed were correct at time of writing: 1 March 2020 at 12:00 GMT)
Preview: An FA Cup meeting at King Power Stadium sees Leicester City host Birmingham City for a place in the Quarter-Finals. It is Premier League versus Championship, respectively, and it is the former who are short odds to progress further in the tournament.
English FA Cup Betting at 22Bet
Table of Contents
Leicester City Preview – Stuttering form genuine cause for concern?
The Foxes have benefited from a favourable draw thus far, having seen off Wigan Athletic (2-0 at home) and Brentford (1-0 away) to reach the Fifth Round. Birmingham City represent a third successive opponent from the second tier for Brendan Rodgers side, who are expected to progress once again despite enduring an alarming slump in form at present.
Since beating Brentford 1-0 at Griffin Park in the previous round, Leicester would fail to make the final of the EFL Cup, after losing 2-1 at Villa Park to Aston Villa, and not win at all in the Premier League in four attempts (W2 D2). Friday’s 1-0 loss at Carrow Road to bottom of the table Norwich means that a 4-1 home win over West Ham United was their only victory secured in the last seven such games (W1 D2 L4).
A particular area of concern has to be the attack (not that their defence has excelled recently, keeping two clean sheets in thirteen league games). Jamie Vardy’s form has fallen off a cliff, with his last competitive goal dating back to before Christmas. Meanwhile, no player has scored in their previous three matches. The King Power Stadium has lost some of its aura as well, with the home faithful witnessing two wins in eight (W2 D3 L3).
Birmingham City Preview – Blues seeking to protect lengthy unbeaten run?
Something bizarre occurred in the previous round. Due to their opponents ongoing issues with stadium residency, Birmingham would end up playing Coventry City twice at St Andrews – so it was essentially successive home games. Not that it seemed to matter as The Blues were held to 0-0 and 2-2 draws, eventually prevailing on penalties to book a Fifth Round trip to Leicester City.
Prior to this, Birmingham had dispatched of fellow Championship side Blackburn Rovers, also at St Andrews, in the Third Round as they won 2-1. This will be their first away outing in the competition therefore, which may not be a bad thing. Their record away from home in the second tier this season is solid enough (W6 D6 L7) and near-identical to that at home, while three of their most recent four wins came when travelling.
Furthermore, The Blues are in robust shape ahead of this outing. Scott Hogan’s brace at the weekend in a 2-2 draw away to QPR stretched their run without losing to 13 (W5 D8) in all competitions, last doing so at home to Wigan on New Year’s Day. The downside, of course, was that a large bulk of this streak consisted of draws, which is how each of their previous four encounters would end.
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Leicester City Vs Birmingham City Betting Advice
Brendan Rodgers must surely change things ahead of this match, because clearly something isn’t working with his Leicester side. Five games without winning is an awfully long time for a team who were in such terrific form earlier in the campaign. The goals have dried up at a time when the defence has started to show signs of fragility, which doesn’t bode well especially ahead of facing a team with nothing to lose who do know where the goal is.
Leicester City Vs Birmingham City – Key Facts
- Leicester have now failed to win any of their past five matches in all competitions (D2 L3), failing to even score in the last three.
- Birmingham are unbeaten in The Championship and FA Cup matches since New Year’s Day (W5 D8), drawing each of their past four encounters.
- The previous five head-to-head meetings between the two produced goals for both teams, although the most recent of those was more than six years ago.
Birmingham have scored in seven of the last eight games in league and cup, failing to do so only twice in their prior sixteen matches. Their problem, however, has been an inability to win, with eight of their past thirteen encounters finishing stalemate including the most recent four, of which three were scoring draws. I think the latter is a viable option here. Leicester are out of form and low on confidence, while Birmingham are resilient it seems as well as being unbeaten since New Year.
Best Betting Odds for Leicester City Vs Birmingham City
Leicester City – 1/4 (Coral)
Draw – 11/2 (Betway)
Birmingham City – 12/1 (Ladbrokes)
