Leicester v Birmingham: Back Blues on the Asian Handicap | OneFootball

EFL Championship

Birmingham can take at least a point at Leicester

Leicester host Birmingham in Friday night's live Championship action. Betfair writer Mark O'Haire is backing the Blues to pick up a positive result at the King Power Stadium.

Leicester v BirminghamFriday August 28, 20:00Live on Sky Sports

Leicester survive a Charlton storm

In-demand Abdul Fatawu scored his first goal for almost 15 months as Leicester secured a very hard-fought Championship victory at newly-promoted Charlton last weekend. The Ghana international curled home the only goal of the game following a devastating counter-attack to secure all three points for the Foxes, their second league success of the campaign.

Marti Cifuentes men came under plenty of pressure throughout and the Spaniard was pleased with his side's performance. He said: "It was far from perfect. But for me the most important thing is that we took a step forward in the identity and culture that I want to build at the club. I saw a team that cared, that wanted to work hard for each other."

Winger Stephy Mavididi is ready to return after missing the Charlton match with Jeremy Monga likely to drop back down to the bench. Ricardo Pereira made his comeback from injury last weekend leaving just three players unavailable for Leicester ahead of the all-Midlands clash - Victor Kristiansen, Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Harry Souttar.

Birmingham go back-to-back

Birmingham's narrow 1-0 success over Oxford last weekend went exactly how Chris Davies "anticipated", according to the Blues head coach. Paik Seung-ho's low first-half finish was enough for the record-breaking League One champions to record their second victory of the season on their return to the Championship.

Davies said: "It was exactly as I anticipated. I think we had to really focus on the process rather than the outcome. I know how hard it is to beat them (Oxford), how strong and disciplined they are. I was confident we'd have more territory, but it was a case of were we going to create the chances and put the pressure on them. We managed to do it."

The Birmingham boss then made 10 changes to his team for their EFL Cup defeat on Tuesday night against Port Vale, with an eye firmly on Friday night's fixture. Marvin Ducksch, Kanya Fujimoto and Lewis Koumas all made their debuts in a disjointed display - Blues failed to land a single shot on-target or create a meaningful opportunity.

Foxes fail to fire

Leicester are unbeaten in each of their past nine meetings with Birmingham (W7-D2-L0), winning six on the spin. The Foxes have posted W5-D1-L0 across their last six head-to-head encounters with Blues at the King Power Stadium, racking up 11 goals in the process. However, Friday night's meeting promises to be a more competitive contest.

Leicester 2.64 have pocketed two league wins in three since relegation but the Foxes haven't overly impressed under Marti Cifuentes' stewardship. After a scratchy success over crisis club Sheffield Wednesday, Leicester have generated just 1.41 Expected Goals (xG) against Preston and Charlton, giving up 4.11 xG and allowing five Big Chances.

Birmingham 2.98 have impressed since their return to the second-tier. Following a creditable opening day draw at Ipswich, Blues have been the better side in victories over Blackburn and Oxford to sit second in the early season Expected Points (xP) standings. The visitors have given up just 0.88 xG from open play and conceded only two Big Chances.

Blues have already matched Ipswich and look far more settled at this stage of the campaign compared to their hosts. Leicester look likely to lose Bilal El Khannouss this week, James Justin has recently joined the exodus and both Stephy Mavididi and Abdul Fatawu are being monitored by other clubs, leaving the Foxes a little short in key areas right now.

Recommended bets

Back Birmingham 0 & +0.5 @ 1.77