Birmingham City vs Reading Prediction and Betting Tips: 21/10 and 5/1 selections for televised League One opener
Birmingham City open their League One campaign against Reading in front of a capacity crowd at St. Andrew's on Saturday August 10, kick-off 17:30, with the match televised on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Football.
Birmingham City vs Reading Predictions
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The hosts are expected to take League One honours this season as only Manchester City are shorter title favourites to win any of the top four tiers of England's football pyramid.
After the recent instability at Reading, the future is starting to look brighter and they are set for a better season, although the fact that Birmingham are shorter to win the title than the Royals are to finish in the top six, or indeed be relegated, highlights the very different expectations of the two clubs.
Birmingham's hierarchy appear to be desperate to right the wrongs of the turbulent season just gone, having seen their fortunes plummet from fifth place when they decided to replace John Eustace with Wayne Rooney, with the latter's dismal reign ultimately one that they could not recover from.
The cash has been splashed to a degree that plenty of Championship clubs will be jealous as the Blues look to reclaim their place in the second tier at the first attempt, and optimism will be high going into the new season.
The Royals will be hopeful of a more productive season after their own issues last term, but they ultimately finished well clear of the drop zone in 17th.
Birmingham have spent big as they look for a fast return to the Championship, a big factor in why they are the title favourites, bringing in the likes of Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Alex Cochrane, Christoph Klarer and Alfie May.
With the added expectations this term, new manager Chris Davies will be desperate to get off to a good start and they go into their league opener on the back of a 4-1 win over West Brom in an excellent pre-season which also saw them beat Rangers 2-1.
Both of those wins came at St Andrew's and it is worth noting that only eight teams had a better home record than the Blues in the Championship last season.
Reading had a dire away record last term but still scored 29 goals, despite winning just three times on the road and they can at least give their hosts something to think about with a goal on Saturday.
Both sides have also scored in the last eight meetings between these two, with only one draw in that sequence.
Alfie May is a proven striker at this level and has the confidence of five goals in six games in pre-season with his new club as he looks for his fourth 20+ goal season on the bounce.
The 31-year-old is certainly worth considering in the goal-scorer markets and what he does seem to offer is an almost guarantee of goals, particularly having scored in both games against Reading last season while at Charlton.
Due to May's goal threat up front, Birmingham's home record as well as Reading's road form and the recent head-to-heads, a chance is instead taken on a 2-1 home win..
Four of the last six meetings between these two have finished 2-1 and the Blues can get their title charge up and running in similar fashion on Saturday.
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