Blackpool v Birmingham: useful draw looks in prospect for Blues
Published:Blackpool’s home advantage makes them 11/8 favourites to overcome Birmingham on Friday, in the first leg of their playoff semi-final double-header.
The visiting side have been one of the Championship’s most consistent outfits this season though, and will be confident of justifying a 19/10 price to win, after beating the Seasiders 3-0 in their last meeting.
A 2-2 draw was the result in the Bloomfield Road fixture of this year’s regular campaign however, and the draw looks an appealing proposition here too at 23/10.
Ian Holloway’s men have drawn three of their last four games, whilst Brum have played out stalemates in four of their last five, with each of those draws featuring goals.
Therefore, the score draw is an appealing prospect as a 3/1 chance, whilst some punters will also be tempted to take on the 12/1 odds about an exact repeat of the 2-2 draw that occurred in the league meeting.
Also, 21/10 odds about Birmingham winning or drawing a match featuring three or more goals looks good, bearing in mind that these teams have hit over 150 goals between them throughout the course of the season.
Chris Hughton’s men are unbeaten in their last four matches against the Seasiders, and have notched twice on their past two visits to Bloomfield Road, so could be worth getting behind at 6/4 to score two or three goals on Friday.
More cautious punters will look at the 4/6 odds about both of these free-scoring sides notching in the game meanwhile, which looks a highly likely outcome.
Ladbrokes are top-price about first scorers on this match, and an abundance of appealing options should encourage punters to invest in this market.
Marlon King is long at 13/2 to open the scoring with his 19th of the season for the visitors, whilst 14-strike Chris Burke is a massive 14/1 chance.
For the home side, on-loan Stephen Dobbie is 7/1 to break the deadlock, and will see support after notching in last year’s playoff final for Swansea.
