Swansea vs Birmingham prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-08-04 14:00.
It’s been a particularly busy summer at Swansea City, who lost manager Russell Martin as well as key defenders Ryan Manning and Joel Latibeaudiere to Championship rivals. Ex-Barnsley boss Michael Duff is the new man at the helm in South Wales, but despite Swansea’s nine-match unbeaten streak at the end of the season (W7, D2) seeing them narrowly miss out on the play-offs, Duff has warned “it will take time to adjust” to his methods.
Finally bridging that gap to the top-six surely depends on keeping star striker JoĂ«l Piroe, who remains at Swansea despite persistent speculation about his future. He helped charge their attack last season that was only outscored by three teams in the division – two of which were automatically promoted. Duff will look to rely on that firepower as the Swans seek to win their first home game of the season for the first time since 2019/20 (2-1 vs Hull).
New season optimism has rarely been at a high for Birmingham City fans in recent years, perhaps due to the fact the Blues have finished between 17th and 20th place in the Championship table for seven consecutive campaigns! Head coach John Eustace has responded to losing the considerable talents of Tahith Chong to Luton by switching from five-at-the-back to four in pre-season – a change that prompted a “livener” of a defeat against Peterborough that saw his side concede three times in the opening 13 minutes.
Birmingham have been fast starters to Championship campaigns though, not losing their first game of the season since August 2017 (1-0 vs Ipswich). Remarkably, the Blues haven’t conceded a goal on the opening day since 2018, and that solidity may need to be present again this time round considering that of the teams that stayed up last season, only three scored fewer than Birmingham.
Players to watch: Piroe looks set to lead the line for Swansea with no transfer imminent – he scored two and assisted another in a pulsating 4-3 defeat the last time the Swans hosted Birmingham. Also on target that day was opposite number Scott Hogan who is unbeaten in his last five personal H2Hs (W3, D2).
Hot stat: In three meetings against Swansea as a manager, Eustace remains unbeaten (W2, D1) with those matches averaging five goals each.