Birmingham – Swansea Prediction & Picks (17.08.2018)

Birmingham and Swansea face Friday’s kick-off matchday three in the Championship, England’s second division. While “The Blues” from Birmingham have been battling in the league for eight years now, Swansea City dropped out of the Premier League just last season. Consequently, the season goals of the two teams differ. After twice place 19 in the last two years of the game Birmingham aims for a carefree round in which one does not necessarily want to fear for the league again until the end. Swansea, on the other hand, is getting ready to fix the instant re-emergence, albeit this is going to be an enormously difficult task.

However, from the point of view of the Welsh, the opening match was on schedule, as from the first two games the team of coach Graham Potter brought the optimal yield of six points. Birmingham, meanwhile, has only accumulated a counter and is thus struggling against it on Friday, early to lose the connection to the upper half of the table. Based on the results so far, we have decided between Birmingham and Swansea for the tip that the guests leave the place as the winner. Because we want to minimize the risk, we at least get the stake back in case of a tie. Only with a home win we make therefore loss.

Birmingham:

Since the 2011/2012 season Birmingham City is now home in the second English league. In the first year after relegation from the Premier League jumped out fourth place, it went steadily downhill in the following years. Low was certainly the 21st place in 2013/2014, which almost led to relegation to League One. Also in the past two seasons Birmingham was always one of those clubs that were more likely to be found in the lower table segment. Both 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 were only enough for 19th place after 46 matchdays. The issue of ‘Premier League return’ has long since been shelved in the ‘Blues’, if only because the available financial resources are insufficient to consider a place among the top six in the short or medium term.

The start into this season underpins this assessment, because after two matchdays, the team of coach Garry Monk, who has only been in office since March, awaits the first victory. In the opening match, despite two leads at home to Norwich City, it was enough for a 2-2 draw. A week later, Birmingham lost 1-0 at Middlesbrough. Also during the week, the former first division club drew 0-2 in the League Cup at Reading FC. The self-confidence should therefore not necessarily be at the boiling point. The fear of a completely botched start is given and will probably further inhibit Birmingham from its own spectators against Swansea. In the previous year, 10 of 23 home games were lost, in the end, the “Blues” came only 21 scored hits. In this season, the Monk-Elf on the offensive, while more risk-averse and courageous, but the right offensive play was the last to the detriment of the defensive. In that sense, we can imagine that the hosts control possession, but Swansea will still come up with some good chances. Overall, in our view, between Birmingham and Swansea, the odds on the Welsh make more sense.

Swansea:

We can call the season opener of Swansea City a great success. With Alfie Mawson, Lukasz Fabianski, Federico Fernandez, Sam Clucas, Roque Mesa and Kyle Bartley leaving the club in the summer, it was thought that it would take time before the Welsh could play a good role in the English Championship. The transition process, however, seems to have taken place faster than expected, which should have primarily to do with the personality Graham Potter. The 43-year-old swings the scepter in Swansea since 01/07/2018 and has done a great job at the Swedish club Östersund in recent years. For seven years, the Englishman was in the service of the Scandinavians and led, among other things, last year to great successes in the UEFA Europa League. Some clubs from the Championship or even the Premier League were interested in Potter, but ultimately he chose the Premier League relegated from Wales.

Maybe he had a good feeling when looking at the squad, which could quite meet the high standards on the island. Potter bets on an interesting mix between talented youngsters and seasoned pros. Faustpfand is the stable defense that will again be in focus in Birmingham. The goal of the “Swans” will once again be to hold the zero for as long as possible in order to put a lucky punch in front. This worked out perfectly last weekend, with just one goal enough to beat Preston North End 1-0 at home. On the first match day, the swans also won 2-1 at Sheffield United. Six points from two matches are a great result that has even sparked a little euphoria in Swansea. With fourth place and a lot of self-confidence in the back, we believe that in the duel Birmingham against Swansea a tip on the Welsh at ordinary rates is more promising.