Carling Cup betting – West Ham vs Birmingham

West Ham vs Birmingham City betting preview

West Ham     Form: LDWDWL     Position: 20th

West Ham sit bottom of the Premier League after a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Newcastle last Wednesday. They did however, overcome Barnsley 2-0 at the weekend in the FA Cup third round. While Manager Avram Grant will be hoping to take his Hammers side to Wembley as a distraction from their league form, as he did with Portsmouth last season in the FA Cup.  Striker Frederic Piquionne is West Ham’s top scorer this season with 7 goals in all competitions and the Frenchman is a best priced at 13/2 with Victor Chandler to open the scoring on the night. Unfortunately for West Ham, they have a lengthy list of injuries with, Jack Collison, Manuel Da Costa, Keiron Dyer, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Herita Ilunga and Benni McCarthey all set to miss out.

Birmingham City     Form: DDLDLW     Position: 15th

Birmingham City go into the Carling Cup Semi Final on the back of two straight wins against Blackpool and Millwall in the FA Cup. Although only Wigan have scored fewer league goals than Birmingham this season, they have now managed 6 in their last 2, after putting 4 past Millwall. With Matt Derbyshire getting on the score sheet for the first time since August, the Striker is showing good odds of 11/4 with William Hill to score at any time. Although Alex McLeish, will have to overturn a statistic which last saw Birmingham win at West Ham in 2002. Lee Bowyer is suspended for the trip to London while James McFadden is ruled out through injury.

Match Prediction Draw best priced at 25/5 with SkyBet

Both sides have produced some good displays so far in the competition, with West Ham knocking out Manchester United and Birmingham overcoming local rivals Aston Villa. Equally, both teams have had somewhat of a revival in the league as well with Birmingham moving up to 15th, although West Ham’s came to a halt after the humiliating 5-0 loss at Newcastle.  Even though The Hammers produced a great display in the last round, their injury list may hamper their chances against a Birmingham side who don’t concede many. With that in mind a correct score of 1-1 should give a good return with odds of 6/1 with BlueSq.

Highlighted Bets

Correct Score 1-1 – 6/1 Blue Sq
Half time/full time of Birmingham/Draw – 15-1 Unibet
Matt Derbyshire anytime goal scorer – 11/4 William Hill

By Sam Markham

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