Birmingham vs Oxford Prediction: Blues to experience more home joy

Birmingham City will look to continue their unbeaten start in the Championship as they welcome Oxford United to St. Andrew's on Saturday (15:00 BST). The Blues were held to a draw here on opening night against Ipswich Town before following it up by snatching a late victory at Blackburn Rovers last time out.

Oxford head here having lost their two opening league matches of the season. Read on for my Birmingham vs Oxford prediction, accompanied by the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Birmingham have one concern heading into the weekend as dependable left-back Alex Cochrane, who played most of the minutes available last season in all competitions, was withdrawn at half-time at Ewood Park last weekend because of a knock. It's nothing serious according to boss Chris Davies but he may be rested as a precaution at the weekend.

His absence would spell trouble for Blues, whose only other left-back, Lee Buchanan, is recovering from a serious knee injury he picked up in December. Davies is in need of reinforcements in that position but for now we may see Ethan Laird deputise on Saturday, having helped inspire the comeback at Blackburn in this role.

Marvin Ducksch continues to build up his fitness and Davies is hopeful that he will be ready to feature before the month is out. Kanya Fujimoto has been on the bench for the past two matches and the attacking midfielder could potentially make his competitive debut against Oxford United.

Despite not getting much joy at Blackburn, Davies is likely to persist with Kyogo Furuhashi in attack, given how lively he has been in his two home appearances to date, while the Japanese forward is likely to be supported by Jay Stansfield, Keshi Anderson and Demarai Gray in attack.

Football Odds

Oxford are missing forward Ole Romeny because of a broken foot.

U's boss Gary Rowett, who has had two spells in charge of Birmingham, has not been shy in telling the press that his squad needs reinforcements if he is to keep Oxford in the Championship for the second season in a row.

After a late defeat at Hull City last Sunday, Rowett may consider making a handful of changes. The likes of Matt Phillips, Tom Bradshaw and former Birmingham man Siriki Dembele could be in line for promotions to the starting lineup in B9.

Birmingham vs Oxford Odds

Birmingham have won their last two matches in all competitions and they are the 4/9 (which has an implied probability of 69.2%) favourites to win this game.

Their last home league game was a stalemate with Ipswich and the draw is on offer at 16/5.

Oxford are 13/2 to stun the Blues and pick up the three points, but the hosts have gone 26 games unbeaten at St. Andrew's in league fixtures. The U's have also won just one of their previous four competitive away trips.

Both teams to score has been a winning selection in all three of Birmingham's games this season across all competitions, and BTTS is marketed at 11/10 on Saturday.

Birmingham to win to nil @ 6/5

Birmingham will be delighted at the fact that they are unbeaten in the first two league games of the season. We may be two matches in but they showed last week in their late victory at Blackburn - coming from behind to score twice late on - the signs of a strong promotion contender.

The Blues were not at their best at Ewood Park but managed to find a way to win, and already it feels like those extra points could go a long way at the end of the campaign.

Being back on home soil will hopefully conjure another performance akin to what we saw from them against Ipswich and Sheffield United, only this time they are up against a side who are not expected to be at the top-end of the table.

This can cause problems as Birmingham can often get frustrated against teams who will be happy to sit back and let them have the ball. But after a season of this in League 1, the Blues should be able to show off their quality and get the win.

I think there will be an onus on them to keep a clean sheet as they have not done so thus far in either league or cup, and on current form I don't see Oxford's attackers posing too much of a threat.

Jay Stansfield anytime goalscorer @ 6/5

Birmingham's poster boy has enjoyed a fine start to the season with three goals in as many games. He showed his composure to pull the Blues level at Blackburn from the penalty spot in the 90th minute but it is his overall game and work ethic that makes him a firm fan favourite.

He is crucial to the way play with his tenacity in leading the press from the front and his quality on the ball. He has played in several positions across the front line for Birmingham and he mostly has an impact wherever he plays.

The England Under-21 international is already forming an exciting partnership with Kyogo and together I think they can cause Oxford's frail back line some serious problems on Saturday.

Offers

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