Sunderland vs Birmingham prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-04-14 14:00.
Sunderland broke a run of three consecutive Championship draws by beating Cardiff 1-0 on Easter Monday, a result that kept them in the play-off picture, but manager Tony Mowbray knows they’re not there yet. “It would be exciting to go into the last two or three games, still in with a chance of creeping in,” he mused, with them lying four points off the top-six with just five games remaining.
For that to happen, they must break another sequence as they haven’t won any of their last five home league games (D3, L2), partly because they scored exactly once in four of those games. Mowbray has also lamented the Black Cats’ lack of a cutting edge, which they’ll need if they’re to win a first home H2H against Birmingham since 2010 (D2).
Infrequent visitors to these parts Birmingham may be, but they’re dangerous having gone on a four-match unbeaten run (W2, D2) which has eased their relegation fears. Sitting nine points clear of danger but not yet mathematically safe, manager John Eustace was “delighted” with Monday’s 0-0 draw with Stoke as it saw them hit the 50-point mark they’ve been aiming for this season.
As their final three league away games of the season are against sides with play-off aspirations (Millwall and Coventry follow this one) they end the campaign with a series of stern tests on the road amid an uninspiring run of league away form (W1, D2, L3). Getting anything from those fixtures should help the Blues achieve their best final points total since 2015/16 though, when they were tenth with 63 points.
Players to watch: Dennis Cirkin’s winner for Sunderland on Monday was his third goal of the season, all of them coming in or after the 60th minute. While Reda Khadra has scored two of Birmingham’s last five goals – his previous three strikes all opened the scoring.
Hot streak: Each of Birmingham’s last four Championship away games featured scoring inside the opening ten minutes (W1, D2, L1).