Against All Odds: Birmingham and Barnsley to dish up goals

Daily Tipping / Paul Robinson / 21 February 2012 / Leave a Comment

"Both sides are in pretty decent nick at present and they are both certainly on fire in front of goal."

Barnsley host Birmingham in the English Championship tonight in what, on paper, appears to be a goalfest in the making. Under 2.5 goals is odds-on though and Paul Robinson believes that is definitely worth opposing.

Barnsley are 14th in the table with 42 points from 31 fixtures. Those 31 games have seen them score 44 and concede 48, giving their matches an average of just shy of three goals. The goals have certainly been flowing at Oakwell in recent months as eight of the last 10 have gone over 2.5 and a few of the them have resembled cricket scores; 3-5, 4-1 and 3-2 being notable examples. In terms of winning and losing, the Tykes have been in decent nick at home this season and Keith Hill has seen his side win eight of their last 12 in front of their own fans. If Barnsley are to retain any hopes of a play-off spot this year then a win tonight is a must as they are already nine points behind this evening's opponents, who themselves currently occupy sixth place.

Birmingham are having a fine season after relegation from the Premiership last year and they are still in with a shout of automatic promotion. Chris Hughton has worked wonders given that he lost some of their star players in the summer and a win tonight could see them go third. Brum's matches are averaging exactly 2.5 goals and three of their last five away from St Andrews have had three goals or more, including a 0-6 hammering of Millwall and a 1-4 victory over Leeds last time Big money buy Nikola Zigic netter four on that occasion and while he is out injured for this one, Marlon King should be available again.

Both sides are in pretty decent nick at present and they are both certainly on fire in front of goal. I wouldn't like to guess at who will win this one, but I am pretty confident that there will be goals galore, so with under 2.5 goals trading at around [1.92], I have to make it my lay of the day.

Recommended Bet

Lay Under 2.5 goals @ [1.92]