Birmingham City v Ipswich Town Betting Tip

This match is between two clubs who must see themselves as having a good chance of a run at the play-offs, however, they have had mixed results recently.

After two wins on the spin and four matches unbeaten, Birmingham have lost their latest two matches by an aggregate score of 7-0. The 4-0 thrashing up at division leaders Newcastle United can happen to anybody but what will have annoyed manager Gary Rowett more is the 3-0 loss at home to Barnsley – a bogey team for Blues in recent years.

This match against Ipswich on Tuesday night is now really a must win after a poor couple of matches and a tough fixture at home to Brighton & Hove Albion next weekend.

Despite a couple of poor score-lines recently, Birmingham’s defence has been pretty solid this season and they are not a side who concede many – only 19 in 18 games prior to the two heavy losses. Additionally, Polish goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak has been in fine form and certainly limited the score-line against both Barnsley and Newcastle.

Unfortunately for them, going forward is a bit of a problem and, despite a switch to a more attacking 4-4-2 system this season, Blues still find goals hard to come by. Their top goal-scorers are strikers Clayton Donaldson and Lukas Jutkiewicz with five goals each – a poor return.

However, as previously mentioned, this match against Ipswich is a good opportunity to put things right. Birmingham are one of the hardest working sides in the division and, after a couple of weeks of taking their foot off the gas, a home match against a similar team should bring energy levels back up.

Prior to their 3-0 loss against Barnsley, Birmingham had an excellent home record having lost just one league game this season (against local rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in August). St. Andrews is certainly a fortress for the Blues right now.

We usually associate Mick McCarthy’s sides with hard work and endeavour which usually brings results – albeit not in a pretty fashion. However, this season, his Ipswich Town side are failing to put any sort of run together and are yet to record consecutive wins this season. Their form in the last five games (W,L,W,L,D) really demonstrates this inconsistency.

It has certainly not been a lack of defensive steel that has cost The Tractor Boys as they have the joint-fourth best defensive record in the league with just 20 goals conceded in 20 games and an impressive total of eight clean sheets. However, just like Tuesday’s opponents Birmingham, they are having trouble in the final third with just 18 goals scored – an average of under one per game. Again like Birmingham, their top goal-scorer is on a mere five for the season – winger Grant Ward.

Ipswich have not been great on their travels this season, picking up points from just four matches out of their nine away from Portman Road.

Quite simply, I think Birmingham should win this. Ipswich are poor on the road and may face a backlash from a Birmingham side who actually have a pretty good record at home and will be trying their utmost to regain a place in the play-off places. Odds of 6/4 on the home win are well worth snapping up.

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