Coventry v Birmingham

Coventry vs Birmingham Preview

The Championship game on Friday night features this upcoming west midlands clash between Coventry City and Birmingham City with both teams languishing in the lower half of the English second tier table, Coventry City in 17th place while Birmingham City now sit in 15th place despite being as high as sixth place before their new owners sacked former manager, John Eustace and installed Wayne Rooney as the new manager.

Coventry City have so far been unable to replicate their heroics of last season's Championship campaign which culminated in appearing in the play-off final at Wembley where the Sky Blues tumbled at the last hurdle, losing out to eventual winners, Luton Town, who took their place in this season's Premier League.

Coventry have managed to capture just five wins so far this season but the Sky Blues have been their usual stubborn selves on home soil at their Coventry Building Society Arena as Mark Robins' side has been handed just one defeat so far which came in the form of a 2-0 loss to west midlands rivals, West Brom.

However, Coventry still remain one of the toughest teams to beat at home in this season's Championship campaign and the hosts have recorded wins against Middlesbrough, Blackburn Rovers and Plymouth Argyle in 3-0, 1-0 and 1-0 victories.

Birmingham City's dramatic decline in fortunes can be traced back to that fateful decision made by the new owners to brutally sack John Eustace and appoint Wayne Rooney as their new boss which has resulted in The Blues plummeting down the Championship table from sixth place down to 15th.

Rooney's tenure was contentious from the outset with many fans not wanting the former England striker at the helm and so far their grave concerns have been warranted as Birmingham City have captured just one win from the eight league matches under Rooney, that being a 2-1 home win against Sheffield Wednesday but also slipping to five defeats within this period as well.

Defeats to Middlesbrough, Hull City, Southampton, Sunderland and Blackburn Rovers have overshadowed Blues' minimal success in recent weeks and having now lost their last seven away games on the trot, conceding a total of 17 goals and scoring just five in reply, The Blues look set for further disappointment on Friday night.

Coventry City v Birmingham City Verdict

Coventry City are unbeaten in each of the previous six meetings against their former landlords but although both sets of teams have struggled for results in the Championship in the past couple of months, Coventry City with home advantage and two wins out of the last three encounters against The Blues look to hold the slight edge here and could nick a low-scoring win.

Therefore, our main bet will be Coventry City win @ 1.66

Other side bets worth considering:

Coventry City win & Under 2.5 goals @ 4.00

Correct Score: Coventry City 2-0 @ 8.00