Swansea v Birmingham – Championship Betting Preview and Prediction
Swansea and Birmingham will meet this Sunday, August 25 at Liberty Stadium to kick off their fifth fixture of the Championship season. You can check out our betting preview and prediction for the upcoming match below.
Swansea´s leaking defence
Swansea have had a solid run in the Championship so far, earning three wins and a draw in the opening four fixtures. While holding onto a 3-1-0 record is impressive on its own, it’s their strikers who have been on top of their game. With eight goals so far, Swansea scored averaged two goals per fixture, with six goals coming from their last two fixtures alone. On the other note, their defence could perform better. In the last two fixtures, the Swans conceded three goals, as a result of letting opponents shoot the ball way to many times. Preston were allowed to shoot the ball 17 times, meanwhile, QPR produced a total of 22 goal attempts. Despite that QPR (1:3), not Preston (3:2) managed to defeat Swansea, nonetheless, seeing how leaky Swansea’s defence is, they will have to address the issue going forward, as they cannot count on their opponents to keep missing their chances.
Their offence might be able to carry the weight of poor defence for some time, nonetheless, some changes will be in the back if Swansea wish to compete for a direct promotion this season.
Birmingham does not enjoy travelling
Birmingham on the other side produced a mixed bag of results so far into the season with a 2-1-1 record next to their name. Yet the Blues can be happy they have won their second match of the season on Tuesday, when they defeated Barnsley 2:0 and will look to make it two in a row this weekend. Having won their second match of the season was a much-needed morale boost for Birmingham who suffered a disastrous 3:0 defeat against Nottingham on Saturday, August 17.
Looking at the results produced by Birmingham, it’s rather obvious the team struggles to perform in away games, with two 0:3 defeats in their last two road fixtures. Furthermore, it’s worth noting Birmingham have won only twice out of their last five away games. One of those wins came against Bristol in a friendly, whereas the second came against Brentford in round one of Championship. As far as that win is concerned it was a completely undeserved three points for the Blues. With 24% ball possession and only one shot on goal from Birmingham that day, we can safely say Brentford (76% possession, 15 goal attempts) deserved to walk away victorious should they take their opportunities better.
Verdict & Prediction
Swansea and Birmingham met twice at Liberty Stadium before, with both fixtures ending in at least five goals and we have a reason to believe the upcoming fixture will be no different.
As mentioned, Swansea defence is nowhere near as good as they would have liked. They might have only conceded four goals so far, however, they let their opponents shoot the ball way too many times for us to feel comfortable saying Swansea has a solid defence. Swansea let QPR produce 22 and Preston 17 shots, leaving us to believe Birmingham will have their fair share of opportunities to score a goal as well.
As said, Swansea’s offence might be solid enough to carry the poor defence for some time, but even that will come to an end. Seeing how vulnerable Swansea is in the back and how deadly they can be in the attack, we can expect them to produce a couple of goals at Liberty Stadium, especially against Birmingham, who did not convince us they can withstand Swansea’s firepower. While defending the goal might be a hard task, we believe Birmingham will get a solid shot at threatening the host’s goal.
This fixture has an over 2.5 written all over, just like it was the case the last two times these two sides met at Liberty Stadium.
Prediction: Over 2.50 Goals
Odds: 2.08 Matchbook
