Heading into Friday’s clash the hosts sit eight points from safety in the second-tier table, having amassed just 23 points from 30 matches. The Owls were dumped out of the FA Cup on Tuesday evening after suffering a 4-1 defeat to Coventry, conceding three goals in the first 13 minutes of the second half. That would have set up a fifth-round tie with non-league Maidstone United, however Danny Rohl’s side can now focus on trying to bridge the current gap between themselves and Championship survival.
It has been a mediocre start to life in the second city for Tony Mowbray after taking the helm at Birmingham following the departure of Wayne Rooney. The former Sunderland and boss has taken four points from his first three league games at the helm after facing Swansea, Stoke and West Brom, with Blues currently four points above the drop zone.
The match result looks a little tricky to predict here and instead it’s two player-based bets that we have opted for on Friday. The first of those consists of Birmingham’s Jay Stansfield to record 1+ shot on target and Krystian Bielik to give away 1+ foul at even money (1/1).
Jay Stansfield is Birmingham’s top scorer this season having bagged eight league goals. When it comes to hitting the target the 21-year-old has recorded at least one on target in 10 of his 13 away matches this season (77%). With odds only implying a 67% chance of success on Friday we make the Stansfield 1+ shot on target a value selection here.
We’ll also be adding in Krystian Bielik to give away a foul which takes us up to a very backable even money via the Bet Builder feature with Sky. The defender has committed at least one foul in 12 of his 13 away matches in 2023/24 and has also been carded in six of those!
For those looking for something at a bigger price we’ve picked out both Barry Bannan and Jay Stansfield to be carded. The former has collected more cards than any of his Sheffield Wednesday teammates this season with nine in 26 appearances in the Championship.
Stansfield has also been a serial offender this term with seven cautions, three of which have arrived in his last seven league outings. This is a huge game for both sides as they look to avoid relegation this season and it would be no surprise to see a high card-count considering the importance of this fixture.