Birmingham vs Swansea prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2024-01-12 15:00.
Two clubs with new managers go head-to-head at St Andrew’s on Saturday as Birmingham City take on Swansea City. Tony Mowbray, the Blues’ third permanent manager of the season, talked of giving the fans “a team they can be excited by and proud of” at his unveiling on Monday but he’ll be well aware that with his side sat in 20th place ahead of the round, his first job will be to steer them away from the threat of relegation.
Mowbray picks up the pieces of the torrid Wayne Rooney reign which delivered only two wins from 15 games (D4, L11), including just one victory in seven matches in front of the home supporters (D3, L3). There was a glimmer of encouragement last weekend under caretaker manager Steve Spooner who was denied an FA Cup win at play-off chasing Hull City by an 87th minute equaliser, but much more improvement is still needed.
Luke Williams got his reign in South Wales underway with a comfortable 2-0 FA Cup victory over League Two Morecambe last Saturday, but his challenge now is to turn Swansea’s recent away form around which has seen them win just one of their last six (D2, L3). If he can do that, the Swans’ fans will start to dream of a second-half of the season surge into the play-offs with their side beginning this matchday in 16th spot, eight points from the top six.
The former Notts County head coach was only appointed last Friday so this will have been his first full week on the training ground. That will have been needed as recording a victory against Birmingham may not be a simple task for Swansea who have not beaten them in any of their last seven H2Hs (D4, L3) and had to come from behind to salvage a point at home against them in the opening match of this campaign.
Players to watch: Birmingham’s Lukas Jutkiewicz started only three games under Rooney but returned to the XI at Hull and opened the scoring. Another player who found the net last weekend was Swansea’s leading scorer Jerry Yates (G7) who also got the equaliser against Birmingham in August.
Hot stat: Swansea have not kept a second-half clean sheet across any of their last six away matches.