UEFA Europa League: Birmingham City v NK Maribor Odds and Betting Preview

BIRMINGHAM, UK - It is going to be a very tall order if Birmingham are to qualify for the knock-out stages of the UEFA Europa League tonight and join the two Manchester sides, as the Championship side need to beat Maribor at home and at the same time hope that Braga can win in Belgium.

With all still to play for, Birmingham have been installed as the odds-on favourites to win tonight at 8/15 with Betfred and Blue Square. The Carling Cup winners have been popular picks in the pre-match betting and many accumulators will depend on a home win, but a draw can be taken at 10/3 with bet365. A Maribor victory would be a shocking way for Birmingham to crash out of the competition, and can be backed at 13/2 with William Hill.

Birmingham have been in poor form in the past few weeks and are now sitting in 13th position in The Championship, but they managed to bounce back to form over the weekend with an epic 2-1 win over Doncaster at St Andrew’s. Marlon King scored a brace and will be integral to the home side, and has scored two goals in five Europa League appearances. Despite going into tonight’s fixture against Maribor in third place, Birmingham can still progress courtesy of their favourable head-to-head record against Club Brugge. Ridgewell is injured for the Blues, but Beausejour is back and will be able to support the strike partnership of King and Zigic.

Maribor claimed their ninth league title last season, and look strongly on course to win a tenth this season, as they are 15 points clear of Gorica in the Slovenian league. However, despite being imperious in Slovenia, Maribor have only taken one point in Group H so travel to Birmingham tonight with nothing to play for apart from pride. The two players to keep an eye on are Croatian midfielder Dejan Mezga, who scored a late penalty at the weekend, and 24-year-old striker Dalibor Volaš.

In the correct score betting, the favoured outcomes are wins for Birmingham. 1-0 and 2-0 wins for Birmingham trade at 6/1 and 13/2 respectively with bet365 and William Hill, although the odds compilers at bet365 are looking to keep 2-0 on their side at 11/2. A 1-1 draw would be a frustrating end to Birmingham’s campaign at 15/2 with Victor Chandler, especially in front of the ITV4 cameras. A 2-1 home win is at 8/1 with bet365, whilst a 1-0 win for the Slovenian outfit can be supported at 17/1 with Irish bookie Paddy Power.

The player deemed the most likely to open the scoring at St Andrew’s is Marlon King, who has been backed into 9/2 from 5/1 with bet365 after scoring at the weekend. Chris Wood is at 9/2 with Ladbrokes but he usually starts the Europa League fixtures on the bench. Serbian striker Nikola Zigic has played 40 European matches in his career, and has a great scoring record with 21 goals in that time, so the Serbian could appeal at 5/1 with Paddy Power. At bigger odds Keith Fahey is a 16/1 poke with Sky Bet in the same market, whilst Maribor’s Volaš could be of interest at 14/1 with bet365.

Birmingham are at 7/5 with Boylesports to be leading at both half-time and full-time, whilst Draw/Birmingham is at 7/2 with high-street bookmaker Ladbrokes.

Over 2.5 goals can be backed at 5/6 with Coral, whilst Marlon King is 6/1 with bet365 and Blue Square to score two or more goals in the game.

Kick-off is at 8.05pm UK time on Thursday 15 December, and the game is live on ITV4.

Birmingham City v NK Maribor Match Odds

Birmingham City v NK Maribor First Goalscorer Odds

Birmingham City v NK Maribor Correct Score Odds