Europa League
2011-10-20 - Club Brugge vs Birmingham City
A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter
Football – England – Europa League Group H
Thursday 20th October 2011 – Kickoff: 1900hrs
It’s Match Day 3 in the Europa League on Thursday night and group leaders Club Brugge take on a spirited Birmingham City at their Jan Breydelstadion, knowing that if they win this match they are well on their way to the next phase.
Club Brugge
Club Brugge have started well in this competition beating NK Marobor 2-0 at home and gaining an important victory at the other favourites to progress from this group, Sporting Braga 2-1 away. This has established an important 3 point lead already in the group and their destiny is already in their own hands to qualify.
On the domestic front, Brugge have started almost equally as impressively as they remain umbeaten home and away whilst their home record stands at 4-1-0 11/2, with only Kortrijk (1 goal) conceding fewer goals at home so far. A hard nut to crack on home soil as the likes of Westerlo 5-0, OH Leuven 1-0, Mons 2-1 and Gent 2-0 have found out, and held last season’s champions Anderlecht to a 1-1 draw.
In terms of goalscoring there’s no real stand-out dangerman as such, rather it is team-work and contributions from various players such as midfielders Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe (4 goals) and former Maccabi Haifa play-maker Lior Refaelov (2 goals) who scored freely for the Israeli club before his move to Belgium, and strikers Bjorn Vleminckx (2 goals) who bagged 23 goals in 32 appearances for NEC in the Dutch Eredivisie last season and Nigerian Joseph Akpala (2 goals).
Club Brugge and Birmingham City have never met before in competition.
Birmingham City
Birmingham will make their way to Belgium in confident mood following their important 2-0 win over Leicester City last Sunday which extends their winning run to three matches after wins at NK Maribor 2-1 and 3-1 at hapless Nottingham Forest.
However, the first half of the Leicester match showed that Birmingham have a tendency to drift along and this often leads to scrappy passing and movement, something that Club Brugge will be very quick to seize upon at any given opportunity.
Birmingham were beaten in their opening fixture in Group H losing 1-3 to Sporting Braga, but then bounced back well to earn an unexpected 2-1 away win at Maribor which sees them level on points with Braga – for now.
Braga travel to Maribor on Thursday and will be looking to repeat Birmingham’s result and effectively condemn Maribor to also-rans in the group.
Domestically, Birmingham have picked up recently and I guess their true league standing is not yet fully known as they have 3 matches in hand over a lot of their counterparts due to their European commitments. That said, they’ve been solid at home with a 3-1-0 7/1 record, but are always more fragile on the road as their away stats currently testify; 1-1-3 8/12.
The good news for the away side here though is that striker Chris Wood (8 goals) is in good scoring form and has the likes of Chris Burke, Jean Beausejour and Wade Elliott as creative back-up, but I do worry about the Blues defensive qualities at times and their penchant for conceding soft goals.
The Betting Verdict :
I fear that Wood’s presence up front may well be countered by an inconsistent defence, and that Club Brugge may just have that extra bit of quality that will make the difference here.
Birmingham will do well to get a draw, but I think the hosts will just about come through – Club Brugge to win 2-1.
The Pick :
Club Brugge 2-1 Birmingham City
BEST BETTING TIP :
Pick :Take Club Brugge to win @ 1.83 at Stan James
