Birmingham will look to continue their fine start to life in the Europa League when they welcome Bruges to St Andrews on Thursday night. The Blues are 5/4 favourites to win the Group H encounter, while the Belgian side are available at odds of 21/10 after losing their last four matches in a row, with the draw priced 9/4 by Paddy Power.
Chris Hughton has balanced the European campaign with life in the Championship well so far as they are top of Group H in the Europa League - level on six points with Bruges - and are ninth in the Championship - 12 points off the top of the table but with three games in hand.
The Blues' defensive record has laid the platform for their fine start as they have conceded just four goals in their last eight matches and have managed to keep three clean sheets in each of their last three matches. They are 2/1 to keep a clean sheet on Thursday but the odds of Birmingham to win to nil look particularly good at 3/1.
Four of Birmingham's last five matches have involved under 2.5 goals and under 2.5 this week looks a decent punt at 4/5 with PaddyPower.
They haven't been short of goals though as Chris Wood has proven to be one of the finds of the season. Wood has scored nine goals this term and his last three goals have all been the last goals of the match, with PaddyPower offering industry best priced odds of 6/1 for Wood to be last goalscorer on Thursday.
Wood scored the injury time winner against Bruges when the sides met two weeks ago. Wood scored in the tenth minute of injury time to secure a 2-1 win, and Bruges have in fact conceded a goal after the 85th minute in each of their last three matches. The last goal of Thursday's match to be scored after the 73rd minute can be backed at odds of 10/11 with PaddyPower.com.
The Belgian side are in strife as they have kept just one clean sheet in their last eight and their woeful run of form saw manager Adrie Koster lose his job on Sunday. Koster's assistant Rudi Verkempinck will take temporary charge of the side and he has a job on his hands to halt a run of four straight defeats in all competitions.
Bruges will be relying on Joseph Akpala for goals as he has scored two goals in Europe this term and has scored three goals in his last six, with Paddy Power going 13/2 for him to score first this week.
The Belgian side have lost eight and drawn one of their last nine matches in England, while Birmingham have been formidable at home - winning ten and only losing one of their last thirteen European matches at St Andrews. They have only failed to score once during that time and the correct score of 1-0 to Birmingham can be backed at 7/1.
Birmingham v Bruges Form
Check the season's statistics for both Birmingham and Bruges, plus the odds ahead of Thursday's match.
Birmingham Stats | Bruges Stats
Birmingham v Bruges Tips
Tip #1: Birmingham to win to nil @ 3/1 with PaddyPower.com
Tip #2: Chris Wood to be last goalscorer @ 6/1 with PaddyPower.com
Tip #3: Last goal to be scored after the 73rd minute @ 10/11 with PaddyPower.com
Match Odds
5/4 Birmingham
9/4 Draw
21/10 Bruges
Correct Score Odds
7/1 Birmingham 1-0
10/1 Birmingham 2-0
15/2 Birmingham 2-1
17/2 Draw 0-0
5/1 Draw 1-1
11/1 Draw 2-2
17/2 Bruges 1-0
14/1 Bruges 2-0
9/1 Bruges 2-1
First Goalscorer Odds
5/1 Marlon King
6/1 Chris Wood
6/1 Nikola Zigic
6/1 Adam Rooney
13/2 Joseph Akpala
7/1 Bjorn Vleminckx
15/2 Thomas Meunier
8/1 No Goalscorer
10/1 Jean Beausejour
10/1 Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe
11/1 Chris Burke
Odds supplied by PaddyPower.com, who provide a variety of betting markets, including in-running betting, for all the week's Europa League matches.
Posted: Wednesday, 2nd November 2011
Author: Chris James
Tags: europa league, birmingham city, club brugge, chris wood, paddypower,
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