Match Preview: Middlesbrough 0-1 Birmingham Prediction and Betting Tips | Premier League

Middlesbrough – Birmingham Prediction and Tips for today, January 16, 2021

Match Preview and Predictions

• Neil Warnock’s Middlesbrough are amongst the Championship’s form sides with four wins from their last five league outings (L1), a run that’s taken them just one point off the play-off spots. Warnock is much improved when it comes to this fixture too, winning his last three H2Hs with Birmingham, as many as he did across the 18 prior (W3, D5, L10).
• The ‘Boro’ have conceded just once across their last four matches at home and now look to register a fifth straight home league win for the first time since a seven-game run in 2018. The first goal will likely be crucial, as they’ve won every Championship game here this term in which they netted first (W7).
• Former Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka is feeling the pinch as his Birmingham side have failed to score in four competitive matches, a run that began after they scored the opener in the last H2H – a game they still lost 4-1. The ‘Blues’ are used to long winless runs though, as this is their third such six-game run in the Championship this season (D1, L5), though they won the seventh by a single-goal margin on both prior occasions.
• Despite their awful form which sees them start the round just four points above the drop zone, Birmingham are yet to trail at HT away in the league (HT: W1, D10). They have been prone to capitulation late on though, with half of Birmingham’s conceded away league goals arriving after the 75th minute.
• Players to watch: Marcus Tavernier hit a career landmark 100 appearances for Middlesbrough at just 21 years of age last time out – he grabbed an assist in the reverse fixture. Birmingham’s former Boro man Lukas Jutkiewicz scored a first-half opener in this fixture at the Riverside last season – he has three goals and one assist vs Middlesbrough.
• Hot stat: Middlesbrough are unbeaten in 19 of the last 20 competitive home H2Hs (W12, D7, L1).