* Betting odds were correct at the time of publication but are subject to change.
Here we bring you soccer tips prediction for Birmingham vs West Brom with the game due to take place on Friday 10th February.
Birmingham vs West Brom: Our top betting predictions
West Brom have just had a huge boost to their morale with Carlos Corberan rebuffing an approach from Leeds to pen a new deal at the Hawthorns. Will they harness that positivity to emerge from this derby day clash with three points or can Birmingham spoil the party? Find out with our Birmingham vs West Brom match preview with free tips, predictions and odds mentioned along the way.
West Brom to win
We'll be honest, when assessing the match result market we found deciding on a winner tough, however, we are predicting West Brom emerge with all three points. With both sides inconsistent of late across their general last five games, we opted to focus on the respective home and away form of the two sides. That is where we found our real difference maker with Birmingham having gone winless in four at St Andrews. On top of that, the last five meetings between these two sides at St Andrews have seen West Brom win three whilst losing just once. Then you've got the extra boost of Corberan staying put too. It all gives West Brom a definite edge.
Expecting goals
Our next tip for this game sees us backing over 2.5 goals. Birmingham have seen four of their last five games pass that threshold with 17 goals scored across that period; that gives them a game average of 3.4 goals. West Brom meanwhile have also seen four of their last five games go over the 2.5 goal threshold but with 16 goals in total
Here are the key stats & form guide for Birmingham vs West Brom
So, that gives you some insight to how the different bookmakers see the action unfolding. How though do the bookies odds translate into probabilities ahead of this game and how might that impact your view of our predictions? Let's find out.
Birmingham odds: 5/2 (3.50) – 29%
Draw odds: 7/3 (3.33) – 30%
West Brom odds: 9/8 (2.13) – 47%
They say form goes out of the window in a derby match but, based on the above bookmaker probabilities, that's not entirely true with the more in-form Baggies favourites to come out on top in respect of the straight match result market. Despite that, the bookies clearly don't see a huge margin in this clash with their odds on view of the total goals, under 2.5 goals bet. The both teams to score market, however, is clearly one they are not so sure of. Both yes and no outcomes are south of the evens (2.00) line.
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Check out the predicted lineups ahead of Birmingham vs West Brom
Birmingham
Birmingham come into this game off the back of a good win over Swansea albeit with their defence looking leaky in that game. They'll certainly be sticking with a similar system – 5-3-2 – and, given they have somewhat of an injury crisis on their hands, an unchanged XI might be on the cards too.
Predicted lineup – Ruddy, Colin, Sanderson, Long, Trusty, Friend, Gardner, Bielik, Chong, Khadra, Hogan
West Brom
West Brom got back to winning ways last time out after back to back defeats for the first time since October. They set up with a 4-2-3-1 in that match and the same approach could be taken here as they look to take control of the midfield area. We can see some personnel changes though with two players in particular likely to come into the XI in Semi Ajayi and Brandon Thomas-Asante.
Predicted lineup – Button, Furlong, O'Shea, Ajayi, Pieters, Yokuslu, Molumby, Wallace, Diangana, Albrighton, Asante
Starting Lineups
*Starting lineups are usually announced one hour prior to kick off.
Player to watch
Quite regularly, you'll see our player to watch as one of the potential match winners. Here though we've opted to highlight West Brom's holding midfielder Okay Yokuslu. His presence in the middle of the park, which is underpinned with a tackle success rate of over 80%, will be a vital part of West Brom getting a foothold in this game.
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A quickfire FAQ on Birmingham vs West Brom
Where is the match being played? – St Andrews
Who do the bookmakers have as favourites? – West Brom
What time does the match kick off? 8 PM GMT