Millwall vs Birmingham prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-04-17 19:00.
Millwall finally posted a win at the fifth time of asking at the weekend (W1, D2, L2), with a 2-0 victory over play-off rivals Preston serving to consolidate their top-six spot. It’s highly unlikely that Millwall will drop out of the top-six after this midweek round regardless of the result here, but despite their cushy position, boss Gary Rowett described their last four games as “must-win” encounters.
A clash against Birmingham City perhaps comes at an ideal time then, as Millwall are unbeaten across each of the last eight H2H encounters (W3, D5) with five clean sheets in tow. When you couple such a strong H2H record with the fact Millwall are unbeaten in 14 of their last 16 home league games played on a Tuesday (W6, D8, L2), it makes a strong case for Millwall embedding themselves further inside the play-off spots.
The Blues haven’t had the same success in midweek, conceding at least twice in each game during a four-match losing streak of league games played on Tuesdays, but things weren’t much better on Saturday either as John Eustace’s men went down 2-1 against a ten-man Sunderland despite taking the lead. Even so, Birmingham are all but mathematically safe, and with no promotion prospects either they may have their proverbial sandals on during the run-in.
Playing away from home is unlikely to incentivise Birmingham either, as their only travelling success across their last seven away league games came against a poor QPR side (W1, D2, L4). It’s difficult to make a case for any great improvement on that record as the Blues have failed to win all of their away league games against current top-six opponents this season (D2, L3).
Players to watch: Millwall’s Zian Flemming ended his five-game goal drought by scoring and assisting last time out, with the Dutchman having already put together three multi-game scoring streaks this season. As for Birmingham, Scott Hogan is the only player to hit double figures for league goals in each of the last two seasons, yet he’s never scored or won against Millwall (D2, L4).
Hot stat: Millwall have failed to win half of their home league games when entered as pre-match favourites (W9, D5, L4).