Birmingham City v Leicester City: Back NTT20's 13/2 goalscorer bet on Monday Night Football

• Birmingham are 22nd in table since Rooney joined

• Leicester have won four of last five

• Ndidi has had at least one shot in 14 of 17 appearances

Birmingham v Leicester
Monday, 20:00
Live on Sky Sports Football

Fresh off a 1-0 midweek win at Cardiff, Wayne Rooney will be frustrated that his side's next assignment is a Leicester side who have amassed more points than any other at this stage in the history of the Championship.

The decision to swap John Eustace for the former Manchester United and England striker has aged like milk, with Birmingham dropping from 5th to 16th and just six points off the relegation zone.

Make no mistake, with the likes of Sheff Wed and QPR picking up points under their new managers, Birmingham are embroidered in a relegation scrap and a home defeat to those many are claiming as the champions elect would halt any momentum built in midweek.

No Fear Blues

When Rooney was appointed as the new manager, the Birmingham owners justified the decision by promising that he would bring a 'no fear' style of football that aligned with their vision for the club. This, in reality, was a wishy-washy attempt to justify the unjustifiable, but will now forever be used as a stick to beat them, and Rooney, with.

They would be sitting in 22nd had the season started on October 11th, when Rooney arrived at St. Andrews. In this time they also rank 22nd in the xG ratio table and 23rd for open-play xG against. In short, this poor run of form is based on poor performances rather than bad luck or any other blameless excuse.

Foxes Back on Track

Back-to-back defeats at the start of November has the chasing pack wondering if Leicester's fast start was beginning to slow, but four wins in the five games since has restored the general faith that they are the real deal.

Enzo Maresca's side have developed a handy habit of squeezing home in tight games this season, and this was the case against WBA where they scored an injury-time winner on the break, and at Millwall in midweek when winning 3-2 having been behind at half-time.

Leicester also seem to fare better on the road against the better teams in the league, dispatching Southampton and Blackburn 4-1 but failing to beat any of the bottom four by a two goal margin and dropping points at Hillsborough.

This could be due to a difficulty breaking down a low block, but with Rooney's Birmingham generally looking to press that may not be an issue here.

Yes, Ndidi

Part of Maresca's master plan is a positional fluidity that often means some players aren't used in their normal roles, and that is definitely the case with Wilfried Ndidi. A player that we know as a deep, combative midfielder is now being employed as an attacking 8 on the right hand side with Harry Winks in the middle and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall on the left.

Given that Leicester dominate possession and with the full-backs often inverting, Ndidi often takes up a no.10 position in possession. In Premier League terms, it's a bit like Dominic Szoboslai's role at Liverpool this season.

This results in shots, and a lot of them. He had two last time out against Millwall and four in just 69 mins played against Plymouth Argyle. In the 17 games he has played this season he has only failed to have a shot in three, and one of these was a substitute appearance.

When looking at the xG side of things, this comes to 0.28xG per 90 according to OPTA, so the 13/2 about Ndidi scoring makes massive appeal even before we add Birmingham's defensive issues into the mix.