Huddersfield vs Birmingham Prediction: It’s now or never for these two teams

Games don't come much bigger than this as Huddersfield Town host Birmingham City in the Championship on Saturday (15:00) for a huge six-pointer in the Championship relegation battle. The two teams are currently in the drop zone and a win for either will be crucial for their respective survival bids.

The Terriers were hounded after losing 4-0 at home to Swansea City last weekend, while Birmingham were held to a goalless draw at already relegated Rotherham United in what was a huge missed opportunity to take them closer to safety. As a Blues fan, I'm nervously writing this, and I've done my best at making my predictions for this gargantuan clash below. Alongside my tips, you will find match odds and team news for the game taking place at the John Smith's Stadium.

Match Odds

Huddersfield are 13/10 to take a huge three points on home soil, giving them a 43.5% chance of victory. Birmingham are 11/5 to hand the Terriers a second home defeat in as many matches, which gives them an implied probability of 31.3%. The draw can be backed at 23/10 (30.3%).

Both teams to score has delivered in 66% (29/44) of Huddersfield's matches this term and in 50% (22/44) of Birmingham's. BTTS is valued at 8/11 to come in on Saturday. Over 2.5 goals is priced at 10/11.

Terriers striker Delano Borgzorg has netted seven times in the Championship this term and is 11/4 to score anytime. Blues' Jay Stansfield has 12 goals himself and he is marketed at 12/5 to find the back of the net at any stage of the match.

Former Huddersfield midfielder Juninho Bacuna has scored seven times for Birmingham this season and he is 16/5 to score against his old side.

Team News

Jonathan Hogg, Radinio Balker, Yuta Nakayama and Josh Ruffels are all out injured for Huddersfield heading into this massive fixture.

Birmingham are without Alfie Chang, who has been out for the entire campaign with an ACL injury. Veteran striker Lukas Jutkiewicz is a doubt to feature with a knee injury of his own, but boy do the Blues desperately need him for this one.

After starting Oli Burke at Rotherham which backfired spectacularly, Gary Rowett will likely go back to the side that defeated Coventry City 3-0 two weeks ago. He was criticised for seeming to settle for the draw against the Millers, and now that his side are in the bottom three, that is something that they cannot afford to do.

Draw or Birmingham and under 2.5 goals @ 13/8

My heart is saying Blues can pull a great performance out of their hats here like they did at Coventry, while my head is calling me a fool. Knowing that Huddersfield need this win just as much as us is doing my nerves no favours, but I am trying to take comfort from the way they seemed to throw in the towel against Swansea.

This is something Birmingham need to capitalise on from the off. There was great disappointment from the Rotherham draw but they still remain unbeaten in their last two games, having kept two clean sheets.

They need to silence the home crowd early if they are to come away with the result they require but as this season has shown, they cannot be depended on most of the time. That is why I have covered double chance here, with the odds boosted by calling under 2.5 goals, because it feels as though this game will be played out like a chess match.

Hopefully with Stansfield, Bacuna and Koji Miyoshi on the pitch, Blues will have more than enough firepower to get past a side that has leaked 74 goals this term, but I'm not holding my breath.

Over 10.5 corners @ 1/1

In a game with such high stakes, there are going to be plenty of nerves among the 22 players on the pitch, as well as the thousands of supporters in attendance. Given the position of the two teams, I'm expecting lapses in concentration and plenty of errors, which could be good for a bet on corners.

I fancy for there to be at least 11 here. There were six for Birmingham at Rotherham last week and four for Huddersfield against Swansea. I think combined they could reach the 11-mark because both sets of defences are extremely vulnerable, which has been the case throughout the campaign.

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