Preston vs Birmingham prediction: ENGLAND: Championship betting tips on match 2022-09-02 14:00.
After a remarkable five 0-0 stalemates from their opening six Championship fixtures, Preston North End became just the third side in English top-four tier history to record seven clean sheets from their opening seven league games with a 1-0 win away at Coventry on Wednesday. Having shut out their opposition just once in their concluding nine league fixtures last year, it represents an extraordinary defensive turnaround for Ryan Lowe’s men, who described his side’s second victory of the season as “a fantastic game of football”.
This new-found defensive solidity has helped extend the Lilywhites’ impressive home record to just one league defeat in their previous ten fixtures at Deepdale (W4, D5), though that has been to the detriment of entertainment, with the Preston fans still waiting to witness a goal in their opening three games at home! They will hope that wait comes to an end against Birmingham City on Saturday though, especially given their recent H2H dominance in the league (W4, D2, L1).
Birmingham’s deflating 2-1 injury-time loss at home to Norwich on Tuesday will raise further doubts about their Championship credentials despite manager John Eustace describing his side’s performance as “magnificent”. The Blues are now firmly the bookies’ favourite for the drop, a tag backed up by a run of one league win in 14 games, meaning some smart work at the end of the transfer window could be needed to change that run.
Eustace’s men actually hold a decent first-half record from their opening seven games – only finding themselves in losing positions at the break on two occasions. However, of their eight goals conceded in the Championship so far, six have come in the second half, implying the Blues are worryingly running out of steam when a game approaches its critical phase.
Key battle: Part of Preston’s defensive revival has been thanks to new goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, who has conceded just two goals in four appearances against Birmingham in his career. Looking to score the first goal against Preston this season will be Scott Hogan, with both his strikes this campaign serving as the game’s opener.
Hot stat: There have been two or less goals scored in six of the last seven H2Hs.