Birmingham vs Bristol City Prediction: The Robins can apply more pressure on Rooney

Boxing Day didn't quite go to plan for Wayne Rooney as his Birmingham City side were easily beaten 3-1 by Stoke City at St Andrew's. The former England striker has now just won two of his 13 Championship matches in charge of the Blues, picking up only nine points in the process.

This is the lowest points tally accumulated of any team in the second tier since he was appointed in October and now there are real concerns that Birmingham are being dragged into a relegation battle with Rooney at the helm.

Next up for the Blues is a visit from Bristol City on Friday night (19:45), who head to the West Midlands off the back of a huge 4-1 victory at Watford.

Match Odds

Birmingham are 8/5 to collect their third victory under Rooney on Friday night. The Blues may have beaten the Robins earlier in the season but they are both facing two very different sides on this occasion. Bristol City are valued at 13/8 to win their fourth game on the spin. A draw can be backed at 11/5.

Both teams to score is priced at 4/5. Over 2.5 goals is marketed at 11/10.

Team News

The hosts still have quite a few injuries to contend with as Rooney tries to turn the team's fortunes around. Lee Buchanan is unlikely to return to the squad after being stretchered off at Plymouth Argyle last weekend with a neck injury.

Alfie Chang (knee), Ethan Laird (hip), George Hall (hamstring) are all sidelined, while Cody Drameh and Kevin Long are both doubts to feature. Midfielder Krystian Bielik will serve the second game of his three-match ban against the Robins.

For the visitors, they are without a quartet of players for the trip to Birmingham. Haydon Roberts, Kal Naismith, Rob Atkinson and Ayman Benarous are all unavailable due to injury.

Over 1.5 Bristol City goals @ 13/8

Ever since Rooney came into the Birmingham job, the defensive work in the team has been shambolic. He inherited statistically one of the best defences in the league in October and in just over two months it is arguably the worst.

In the 13 matches he has overseen, the Blues have conceded 27 goals, averaging at 2.1 per game. This is very poor and is reflective of the slide down the table that Birmingham are experiencing.

Liam Manning's Bristol City will be rubbing their hands together for this game because they are gunning for a fourth straight victory, which could propel them into the play-off places. They have scored seven goals in their last two matches and are about to face a back line in disarray and a team drained of confidence.

This market offers excellent value to punters and we fancy it to come in because Birmingham cannot defend to save their lives right now.

Jay Stansfield to score anytime @ 5/2

One of the few positives that Birmingham fans can take from this dismal chapter right now is the fact that they have a goalscorer who can still deliver even when the team isn't performing well. Jay Stansfield netted his seventh Championship goal of the season in the Stoke defeat to make the score 3-1 and offer a glimmer of hope in a potential comeback.

The Fulham loanee has scored in back-to-back games for the first time since November and it just reinforces the point that he is a natural goalscorer. The youngster hadn't had much of a sniff all game, and largely had to try and create chances himself. But once he got a good sight of goal, he didn't fail to convert.

Birmingham may not be in for a positive game of football on Friday, but they have a great chance of getting on the scoresheet because of this man, and he offers great value to find the back of the net at any point during the match.