Eng. Championship
2011-12-19 - Crystal Palace vs Birmingham City
A Sports Betting Pick by ArmchairPunter
Football – England – Championship
Monday 19th December 2011 – Kickoff: 1945hrs
Monday night’s remaining match of this weekend’s round of fixtures is a mid-table battle between two sides desperate to climb into the play-off reckoning with perhaps Birmingham City carrying the greater weight of expectation on their shoulders.
Crystal Palace
However, the home side will also be experiencing a bit of pressure as their performances have taken a dip following a decent run during October where they were unbeaten for seven matches putting together wins over Brighton, Watford and Ipswich Town away, and a 1-0 home win over Bristol City.
Crystal Palacey also earned draws against West Ham, Portsmouth and Reading before going down 0-2 at Cardiff City which signalled the end of that mini-run.
Palace then endured a five match winless streak which was halted at the City Ground when they beat strugglers Nottingham Forest 1-0. Their home record is still pretty good at 3-6-1 9/6, and will be rueing those draws which have hampered their progress into a top six place.
Forward Glenn Murray (5 goals, 1 assist) and midfielder Sean Scannell (3 goals, 4 assists) are the dangermen, but The Eagles have struggled for goals this term at Selhurst Park with only Doncaster Rovers (8 goals) scoring fewer on home turf.
Birmingham City
Visitors Birmingham City bowed out of the Europa league on a positive note when they beat the Slovenian champions NK Maribor at St Andrews on Thursday night.
Whilst this is obviously a disappointment it would have provided the squad with an invaluable experience which I think will now stand them in good stead as they ‘concentrate on the league’ and booking a highly anticipated play-off berth come May next year.
Young striker Adam Rooney notched on Thursday night while another young winger, Nathan Redmond, earned rave reviews for his performance.
This can only be good for The Blues as a squad as this now creates increased competition for places, plus preparing them for a heavy fixture schedule ahead of them over the Christmas and New Year period, as these players will now be match-ready.
Before I get too carried away though, let’s just remind ourselves of Birmingham’s current away record which isn’t anything to write home about; 2-2-6 13/18, and have now gone four away matches without a win following losses at Reading, Cardiff City and Hull City and a draw at Blackpool.
However, their recent performances suggest that they could well get something from this match with recent wins over Burnley and Doncaster Rovers (albeit both at home), but now the Europe distraction has now disappeared, they can now go for it in earnest.
Blues also possess a number of players capable of causing problems ie Chris Wood, Marlon King, Chris Burke, Wade Elliott and Jean Beausejour.
The Betting Verdict :
I firmly believe that Birmingham City can grab at least a draw here, but will cover them with the round ball handicap.
Could be a 1-1 draw or a narrow 1-0 Birmingham win – should also be under 2.5 if you prefer that option.
The Pick :
Crystal Palace 0-1 Birmingham City
BEST BETTING TIP :
Value Pick :Consider a bet on Birmingham City to win @ 2.63 at Stan James
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
