NORWICH CITY v BIRMINGHAM CITY
Championship
Friday 18th January 2019
Kickoff: 1945hrs
Pick: Over 2.5 goals
Bookmaker: Marathonbet
Odds: 1.96 (odds taken at 05:29 GMT, 18 Jan 2019)
Championship action returns on Friday night when 3rd placed Norwich City take on Birmingham City as the betting tips continue at Carrow Road with the hosts looking to end a four match sequence without a win.
Championship Betting at Marathonbet
Norwich City Prediction
Norwich City have recently slipped down to 3rd place in the Championship after four league matches without a win as The Canaries have drawn three and lost one in recent weeks; draws with Nottingham Forest 3-3, Brentford and West Brom, both away from home and resulting in 1-1 stalemates respectively, along with defeat to Derby County mean Norwich are now four points adrift of league leaders, Leeds United.
However, it needs to be noted that against Forest, Norwich earned a fantastic point as they were 3-0 down while the matches at Brentford and West Brom were both away from home. Norwich will be keen to return to winning ways at home where they’ve posted a record of 8-1-4 26/22 to date, and have lost just once in their last seven matches at home.
The hosts have been scoring goals on a regular basis with the likes of midfielders Vrancic and Hernandez (4 goals apiece) supporting forwards Pukki (15 goals) and Rhodes (6 goals) with 8 of their 13 home matches resulting in over 2.5 goals.
Norwich have failed to score just twice at home this season in the Championship.
Key-Facts – Norwich City v Birmingham City
- 8 of Norwich’s 13 home matches have resulted in over 2.5 goals
- Birmingham’s strike pair of Adams (13 goals) and Lukas Jutkiewicz (10 goals) is a dangerous combination
- Birmingham have failed to score in just 3 of their 13 away matches
Birmingham City Prediction
After a shaky start to this campaign which saw Birmingham City without a league win from their first eight league matches of the season, Gary Monk’s side have produced a much more positive campaign so far this season which will have pleased the long-suffering fans following two near misses in consecutive seasons with relegation down to League One.
Birmingham sit in 8th place and just four points adrift of the play-off pack as Monk has brought renewed belief and attacking intent to The Blues, although they come into this clash without a league win from three matches; back-to-back draws with Brentford and Sheffield Wednesday were followed with a 2-1 defeat at home to Middlesbrough last time out at St Andrews.
However, on a positive note, Birmingham are no longer lacklustre in attack as forwards Che Adams (13 goals) and Lukas Jutkiewicz (10 goals) have forged a valuable strike pair up front, and although their away record stands at a so-so 4-5-4 17/16, the visitors are unbeaten in their last four on the road.
Birmingham have failed to score in just 3 of their 13 away matches to date which is a vast improvement on recent seasons.
Betting Tips Verdict
Norwich will be on the front foot here as they look to reduce the gap on the top two clubs while Birmingham now pose serious threats going forward – I believe there’ll be some goals in this encounter.
