Birmingham Capable Of Signing Off Europa League Group Campaign With Easy Win
Birmingham's Europa League future is out of their hands ahead of this match, to progress Chris Hughton's side need to beat Maribor whilst Birmingham will need Braga to do them a favour by winning at Club Brugges. Birmingham have done extremely well in a tough group, especially when you consider they have had to balance Championship football with the demands of the Europa League which is a rare requirement.
Chris Hughton may make changes to his midfield for this match, Jean Beausejour has had a two match rest and is expected to return to the side alongside Guirane N'Daw who should also make a return. Jordan Mutch could also make a return to Birmingham first team duty after missing the last four months because of a broken ankle but the midfielder is likely to have to settle for a place on the bench after such a long absence. Steve Carr will once again be left out of Europa League duty having missed the last four games in the competition whilst Liam Ridgewell looks set to miss out as he is expected to need ten more days to recover from a thigh injury.
Maribor, who knocked Rangers out of the qualifying round in this competition, have failed to live up to expectations in this competition, they are bottom of the group and have picked up just one point so far in the group stage. Birmingham managed to pick up a 2-1 win against Maribor in Slovenia and they should see a further advantage go their way at St Andrews so we should expect a pretty comfortable victory for the home side against a team who has nothing to play for. The odds on a home win are fair but it could be worth seeking extra value by backing Birmingham to win -1 in the handicap betting.