Thursday's Bet of the Day: Birmingham - Maribor to be a high scoring encounter and Chris Wood to be on target for Blues

The Midlands club's fate is out of their hands after a defeat on match-day five. Here, Jim Knight discusses their chances against the Slovenians and where the best bets are

15 Dec 2011 11:56:00

By Jim Knight

More On :  Birmingham City, NK Maribor, Birmingham City vs NK Maribor
UEFA Europa League - Club Brugge KV v Birmingham City FC, Nikola Zigic and Ryan Donk
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After a 1-0 defeat to Braga in the last round, Birmingham now have an uphill task ahead of them if they are to qualify from Group H. They must beat Maribor at St Andrew's and hope other results go their way. Chris Hughton’s side have performed admirably in this competition after losing several key players in the summer, and they should be able to secure a win in this game to round off the group stage.
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Maribor are bottom of the group with just one point to their name, they were 3-0 up at Brugge in the last game before capitulating to a 4-3 loss in the space of 17 minutes. Birmingham are made 4/9 (1.44) favourites by Bet365 with the draw at 10/3 (4.33) and Maribor the outsiders at 5/1 (6.0).

The best value in this game could be in the goals markets as four of Birmingham’s last five league games have gone over 2.5 goals and the same goes for Maribor. The Slovenians' matches in the Europa League also average four goals per game. At 9/10 (1.9), this game to contain three goals looks like good value.

Marlon King scored a brace as Blues beat Doncaster in their last league game and is 5/1 (6.0) to open the scoring or 7/5 (2.4) to score anytime. Chris Wood has also been in good form. The 20-year-old New Zealander has nine league goals to his name this season and is 6/1 (7.0) to score two or more.

Chris Hughton should set his side up with the intention of scoring as many as possible in the hope they can defy the odds and qualify in the event results elsewhere go their way. The visitors have conceded nine goals in their last two Europa League games and Birmingham can be backed to score three or more at 9/4 (3.25) for a longer shot bet.

Bet of the Day: Over 2.5 goals at 9/10 with Bet365

Value Bet: Birmingham to score three or more at 9/4 with Bet365

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Jim Knight is Chief Betting Editor at Goal.com and has been tipping football games since he was old enough to place a bet. He is a Leicester City fan, writer and member of the We Are Going Up Podcast

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