Eng. Championship
2013-02-16 - Birmingham City vs Watford
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Championship
Saturday 16 February 2013 - Kick Off 3pm
Birmingham City
Lee Clark and his men keep churning results out, but the form of the bottom three teams in the Championship means Birmingham City can't rest on their laurels just yet. Promotion is long gone, as expected, but the fans are still not happy with what they are being shown on a regular basis.
Birmingham City are 16th in the Championship table, but their 38 points means they are only 4 clear of Barnsley in the final relegation spot. The Blues will be bringing in a 5-5-5 home record for this game and they have scored 20 goals and conceded 23 in those games.
The side are actually unbeaten in their last 5 games in the Championship, although they have drawn 3 of those games and won the other 2. Birmingham have lost just 1 of their last 6 home League games, although they have needed some late goals to prevent them being on a run of 4 losses in 5 games at St Andrews. They have scored last minute equalisers against Burnley and Brighton, while they came from 0-2 down to draw with Crystal Palace.
Watford
Watford showed all their attacking class and ability in the first fifteen minutes against Crystal Palace a little over a week ago, but they failed to see out that game. Gianfranco Zola will have seen that as two points dropped, especially as Watford are so close to an automatic promotion spot.
At the start of a busy League week in the Championship, Watford are 4th in the Division and they are only 3 points behind Hull City in the final promotion place. Watford will bring in an impressive 8-2-5 record away from home, scoring 32 goals and conceding 24 in those games. No team has scored more away goals nor had more away wins in the Championship so far.
Watford have only lost 1 of their last 6 games in the Championship, although that did come in their last away game when falling to a 2-0 loss at Bristol City. The side had been unbeaten in 7 straight away games in the Championship before the loss at Ashton Gate, winning 5 of those games including 3 in a row before the defeat to Bristol City.
Head to Head
Watford were comfortable 2-0 winners over Birmingham City at Vicarage Road earlier this season.
Birmingham have won 5 in a row at home against Watford and 7 of their last 8 at St Andrews against them.
Prediction
I did seriously consider picking Watford to win this game as a lot of late goals had saved Birmingham City from defeat in recent home games in the Championship.
However, they do have a poor record at Birmingham and those late goals is a concern that the home side pull something out of the fire in this one.
Therefore, I will go with the over 2.5 goals as that has been a feature of both of their recent games.
The Pick :
Birmingham City 1-2 Watford
BEST BETTING TIP :
I'll back Over 2.5 Goals @ 1.85
