Birmingham vs Leeds prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2023-08-11 14:00.
Birmingham City’s hopes of a winning start to the season after a summer takeover didn’t quite materialise as the Blues failed to make their lead count in a 1-1 draw at Swansea. Head coach John Eustace felt they “gave a good account of themselves”, and his mood was further improved on Tuesday when they eased into the EFL Cup second round with a 2-0 win at Cheltenham.
As they prepare to play Leeds United for the first time since December 2019, St. Andrew’s could wear a festive look with news of NFL legend Tom Brady becoming a minority owner. Transferring that feel-good factor onto the pitch seems feasible too if they continue their form here in season curtain raisers, having lost just one of their last 17 opening home league games of a campaign (W10, D6).
Back in the Championship after a three-season stay in the top-flight, Leeds had to dig deep in stoppage time to salvage a point against Cardiff (2-2) on matchday one. Coach Daniel Farke remarked that it “was a scandal that we didn’t win this game” with the possession they enjoyed, and his frustration was amplified with news of fresh injuries to captain Liam Cooper and Crysencio Summerville, the scorers last Sunday.
A growing injury list certainly won’t help Farke as he bids to extend his impressive record against Birmingham, having won five of his six league H2Hs (D1), all coming as Norwich manager. A trip to the Midlands is perhaps timely then as Leeds’ search for a league win now stands at ten games (D3, L7), although having scored in each of those, they’ll likely be a scoring threat once again.
Key battle: Siriki Dembélé scored for Birmingham on matchday one, extending his excellent record when scoring in the Championship (W5, D2, L1). He may have to test his wits against Illan Meslier in the Leeds goal, who has four clean sheets across his last five Championship matches, although the sole exception was on Sunday.
Hot stat: Leeds’ last seven away league season openers have averaged 4.86 goals per game.