Maribor A Good Bet To Continue Birmingham Away Day Misery

Birmingham continue to juggle Championship football with a Europa League campaign this week, last season's Carling Cup winners flew out to Slovenia on Tuesday morning and Chris Hughton will no doubt be expecting a very tough match. Birmingham need to balance their commitments this season, they are already closer to relegation than promotion and results need to improve domestically or the fans will become extremely restless.

 

Akwasi Asante and Luke Hubbins are both amongst the 20 man squad that travelled or the Blues, there could also be European debuts for Nikola Zigic and Keith Fahey in Birmingham colours, Zigic was recovering from groin surgery during Birmingham's last Europa league tie whilst Fahey has also missed the previous matches due to a groin problem. Curtis Davies and Stephen Carr did not travel with the Birmingham squad due to injuries.

 

Maribor will provide stiff opposition, they are taking this competition very seriously and as usual the scalp of an English side is always viewed as a great achievement. Maribor are well into their season and they have shown mixed form recently, winning two, drawing two and losing two in the league. Interestingly they have scored more than any other team in their last six games but have also conceded the second most in the league in their last six games, suggesting we could see a few goals in this match. Maribor have been strong at home this season though, winning four and losing just one of their six games, which will be a worry for Birmingham who have not yet won away from home in the Championship, Birmingham have picked up just one point on the road in three games. This suggest Maribor are good value for the win in what could be a very entertaining game for neutrals.