Birmingham vs Cardiff Prediction: Blues set to remain in relegation danger

Rotherham have already been condemned to one of the three relegation places in the Championship this season and Birmingham remain one of a few prime candidates to fill one of the other two spots.

The Blues have a chance to improve their prospects when they host Cardiff on Wednesday but time is running out for interim boss Gary Rowett's side, who have lost five of their last six games.

Cardiff are clear of trouble and just about out of the playoff race, but they are arguably undervalued in the match odds.

Team news
Lukas Jutkiewicz (knee) and Marc Roberts (calf) are out for Birmingham due to injuries and the Blues are likely to also be missing Oliver Burke.

Cardiff will be without defenders Josh Wilson-Esbrand and Mark McGuinness due to hamstring injuries and midfielder Ryan Wintle is also out.

Draw or Cardiff City Double Chance @ 5/6

Birmingham's greater need for the three points on offer is a clear factor in them being odds-on to pick up a valuable home win over Cardiff but it's far from certain that they will be up to the task.

The Blues have also been desperate for wins in all of their other recent games and that has resulted in an excellent 1-0 victory over Preston but also in defeats to Millwall, Middlesbrough, Watford, QPR and Leicester.

While most of those sides are still involved in either the promotion or relegation races, Cardiff have not completely taken their foot off the gas despite being safely in mid-table.

The Bluebirds won away at play-off contenders Coventry in their penultimate match and while they were beaten 3-1 by Hull last time out, the Tigers are a far stronger team than Birmingham.

Cardiff have won five of their last eight games and taking the combination of an away win and the draw in the double chance market at only marginally worse odds than a rare Birmingham success looks the smarter option.

#PickYourPunt: Both teams to score - No, Under 2.5 goals, and Dimitris Goutas to be carded @ 6/1

Part of the reason why Birmingham are in such a sticky situation is that they don't score enough goals and they have not netted more than once in any of their last seven games.

They drew a blank in three of those outings and taking one or both teams not to score looks a solid first leg of a #PickYourPunt wager.

That combines well with under 2.5 goals in the game, which has been the case in five of Birmingham's last seven matches and also in four of Cardiff's last seven outings.

The Welsh club have not scored more than twice in a game in their last 29 fixtures, in a run stretching back to October.

Complete the bet by taking Cardiff defender Dimitrios Goutas to receive a yellow card in the game. Goutas has calmed down since a wild spell in February when he was booked in five out of six games but he will be at risk of attracting the referee's attention if Birmingham throw players forward when their need for goals gets more desperate.

Match Odds

Birmingham are favourites to win at home and priced at 9/10 to win the match, with Cardiff on offer at 11/4 and the draw available at 9/4.

Over 2.5 goals in the game is priced at 1/1 with under 2.5 at 8/11 and it's 5/6 that both teams score in the game and the same price for only one or neither team to find the net.

Birmingham forwards Jay Stansfield and Scott Hogan are joint-favourites to score the first goal of the game at 11/2.

Football betting tips from Betfred Insights.