Monday night’s Championship match pits together two mid-table teams with aspirations of being in the top six come the end of the season. Crystal Palace welcome Birmingham to Selhurst Park in a match that bookmakers’ are struggling to chose a winner. Both teams can be backed at 8/5 with Ladbrokes, making a draw very tempting at 12/5.
Last week Palace put an end to their seven match winless streak with a narrow 1-0 win away at struggling Nottingham Forest. They will be eager to follow the victory up with a win against Birmingham in order to get their promotion prospects back on track following a woeful few weeks. The Carling Cup has proved to be a welcome distraction for the club but it is crucial that they focus their attention on the league until their eagerly anticipated semi-final with Cardiff next month. The Christmas period can make or break a season and manager Dougie Freedman will want his team to be in a strong position come the New Year.
Birmingham will be looking to bounce back from their Europa League exit last Thursday. Despite winning their final match the Blues finished in third place in Group H, an agonising one point behind Club Brugge and Braga who both qualified. Their hectic schedule may be a reason behind their inconsistent league form, which has seen them win just two of their last seven Championship matches. Manager Chris Houghton will now be looking for his players to put their European disappointment behind them and string a few wins together in the league in order to get themselves back into play-off contention.
Birmingham have won three of the four recent meetings between the sides, with the corresponding fixture last season ending in a goalless draw. All three of Birmingham’s wins have been by just a single goal and they find themselves available at 7/1 to come away with a 1-0 win and 9/1 to record a 2-1 win. Meanwhile, Palace are priced at 7/1 to win their second game on the spin 1-0, with a 2-1 home win available at 8/1. With the betting so tight and neither team setting the world alight with goals this season, a tightly fought 1-1 draw could be the way to go at 11/2 with Ladbrokes.
Glenn Murray, who scored Palace’s winner against Forest last weekend to take his tally to five for the season, and Chris Martin are both priced at 5/1 to open the scoring on Monday. Birmingham’s Marlon King, who recently grabbed a brace against Doncaster, can be backed at 11/2 to score first, while the Blues’ top scorer Chris Wood is available at 6/1. Adam Rooney could also be worth a punt at 8/1 with Ladbrokes after scoring the only goal of the game in Birmingham’s win at home to NK Maribor last Thursday.
Crystal Palace v Birmingham Tips
Tip #1 Glenn Murray to score first @ odds of 5/1 with Ladbrokes.
Tip #2 1-1 Draw @ at odds of 11/2 with Ladbrokes.
Tip #3 One or no goals @ at odds of 2/1 with Ladbrokes.
Match Betting
8/5 - Crystal Palace
8/5 - Birmingham
12/5 - Draw
Correct Score Odds
7/1 - Crystal Palace 1-0
8/1 - Crystal Palace 2-0
8/1 - Crystal Palace 2-1
7/1 - Birmingham 1-0
9/1 - Birmingham 2-0
9/1 - Birmingham 2-1
8/1 - Draw 0-0
11/2 - Draw 1-1
14/1 - Draw 2-2
First Goalscorer Odds
5/1 - Chris Martin
5/1 - Glenn Murray
11/2 - Marlon King
6/1 - Sean Scannell
6/1 - Chris Wood
6/1 - Nikola Žigiæ
7/1 - Darren Ambrose
7/1 - Jermaine Easter
7/1 - Steffen Iversen
8/1 - Adam Rooney
Odds supplied by Ladbrokes.com, with live betting in-running throughout the match.
Posted: Saturday, 17th December 2011
Author: Jake Itson
Tags: english championship, crystal palace, birmingham city, selhurst park, ladbrokes,
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