Birmingham vs Sunderland prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2024-02-16 15:00.
Birmingham boss Tony Mowbray got one over on former employers Blackburn in midweek, as a 1-0 win for the Blues bought them some much-needed breathing room in the Championship relegation battle. With seven points from his five league games in charge (W2, D1, L2) since his appointment in January, Mowbray will know they aren’t out of the woods just yet despite being six points clear of the drop zone, as this game marks a tough run of games against promotion chasers over the next few weeks.
One-goal margins look likely to be the saving grace for the Blues, with only two Championship teams to date earning a higher percentage of their wins by a single goal. This weekend, when another of Mowbray’s former clubs in Sunderland make the trip to the Midlands, Birmingham have the opportunity to record back-to-back home wins for the first time since October.
The Black Cats though, who are jostling for a play-off spot, have won all three of the most recent H2Hs, including the reverse fixture in November when Mowbray was still in charge. With Michael Beale now at the helm, Saturday’s visitors had been unbeaten in three (W2, D1) before a defeat at strugglers Huddersfield in midweek which saw the boss bemoan the fact that his side “wont blow anyone away because they don’t score enough goals.”
That’s certainly been the case away from home, where an average of exactly one goal a game ahead of this match round is only higher than that of five clubs in the Championship, three of whom reside in the relegation zone. Sunderland supporters won’t exactly be enamoured by a recent record of just one win in the last nine away league H2Hs (D3, L5), though that win did come last season in their most recent visit to St Andrew’s.
Players to watch: Siriki Dembélé has won just one of his six personal H2Hs with Sunderland (D3, L2), though he did score against them back in 2021 whilst playing for Peterborough. Jobe Bellingham left Birmingham behind for Sunderland in the summer and opened the scoring in the reverse fixture, as he has done twice this season.
Hot stat: Sunderland have won just one of their last 15 Saturday-held away league games (D7, L7).