Birmingham City entertain League One team, Rochdale this Thursday evening at St Andrews in the Carling Cup, knowing that nothing other than a win is expected. In fact Rochdale will be doing very wel l indeed to win at what is becoming ‘Fortress St Andrews’ as the midlands side has not been beaten there for nearly a year. In fact they have now gone 17 games unbeaten at home which is why the Bookmakers make them profound odds on favourites across the board, with the best price coming from Ladbrokes at 4/9. Ladbrokes also go 10/3 against the draw and 6/1 on a Rochdale win.
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Birmingham have started their Premier League campaign in good form, which culminated at the weekend with an excellent comeback victory over Blackburn by two goals to one. In real terms however Birmingham boss, Alex McLeish will know his side has little chance of a top four place in the league, but he will expect to be not too far behind and will be looking for European football next season. The Carling Cup therefore may be his best opportunity meaning that fans and punters alike can expect a strong challenge from the ‘Blues’ and Rochdale can expect a very tough examination in this match. Birmingham in fact are 25/1 with Ladbrokes.com Bookmakers to win the Carling Cup this season.
Birmingham City v Rochdale LIVE on Sky Sports 3 on 26 August @ 1945.
McLeish is likely to give new striker Nicola Zigic a full 90 minutes in order to help him adjust to British football. The 6’7” striker has struggled a little since his six million pound signing from Valencia but this match will give him ample opportunity to prove what he can do. He has scored 16 times in 49 outings for the Serbian national side and hit an incredible 47 goals in 79 matches for Red Star Belgrade between 2003 and 2006. At 5/1 with ladbrokes he certainly represents good value to get the first goal of the game.
2010/11 Carling Cup Odds Comparison
Rochdale have struggled since arriving in League One this season following promotion from League Two. They have managed just two draws and one defeat in their three league games to date but they did beat Championship team Barnsley 1-0 in the last round of this competition. Danger man, should he play is striker, Chris O’Grady who has scored an impressive 15 times in 24 games since he signed for the club last season. He is a 10/1 shot to be first goalscorer of the match and he is also a 3/1 chance with Ladbrokes.com to score during the 90 minutes.
Birmingham should have too much all round ability to lose this game and we confidently predict a win by at least a couple of goals. Rochdale will make a fight of it, with their inspirational skipper Gary Jones leading the way. We think however, that a 2-0 or 3-1 outcome is likely and would back both with odds of 5/1 and 10/1 respectively.
Selection 1: Zigic to score first goal @ 5/1 (£25 Bet wins £125)
Selection 2: Birmingham to win by 3-1 @ 10/1 (£25 Bet wins £250)
Match Odds
4/9 Birmingham
10/3 Draw
6/1 Rochdale
Selected Correct Score Odds
2-0 Birmingham win – 5/1
1-0 Birmingham win – 6/1
3-0 Birmingham win – 6/1
2-1 Birmingham win – 8/1
3-1 Birmingham win – 10/1
4-0 Birmingham win – 14/1
4-1 Birmingham win – 14/1
All odds provided by Ladbrokes Online Bookmakers who also offer many markets including an in-play market for this match.
Posted: Wednesday, 25th August 2010
Author: Rodney Wise
Tags: carling cup, st andrews, birmingham city, rochdale, ladbrokes,
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