Birmingham vs Southampton Prediction & Betting Tips - Championship

Prediction published on 02/03/2024, 01:55  by Ian John in Championship Predictions

Birmingham City face Southampton this weekend in the Championship with survival very much uppermost in the mind of Blues fans. Manager Tony Mowbray has had to step back from his duties for a couple of months while he undergoes treatment for a medical issue, which means assistant Mark Venus and coaches Ashley Cole, Pete Shuttleworth and Maik Taylor will step up in his absence.  Birmingham sit 18th in the table on 38 points but having played 33 games, one fewer than the teams around them. They also have a solid home record with just three defeats in their 16 home games this season and they are unbeaten in four at St. Andrews coming into the game with the Saints. They were well beaten last weekend however, going down 3-1 to Ipswich Town at Portman Road in what was their third successive away defeat in the Championship. 

Fourth placed Southampton were in action in midweek in the FA Cup Fifth Round, hoping for a tie away to Manchester United in the quarter finals. However, they lost 3-0 at Anfield to a young Liverpool team. It was a game in which the Saints should have at least scored a couple of goals, with their wasteful finishing eventually being punished by the Premier League leaders.  It has been a tough few weeks for Russell Martin's team as they have now lost four of their last five in all competitions with their only victory coming on the road, as fate would have it, in Birmingham against the Blues rivals, West Bromwich Albion. This blip in form has seen them drop well off the pace at the top of the table and they now lie 11 points behind Leicester and five behind Leeds and Ipswich above them. Automatic promotion is still possible, but they'll need to turn things around, starting with this game at St. Andrews.