Birmingham City v Sporting Braga – Preview, Prediction, TV Listings, Betting Odds – Europa League – 15 September 2011
English Championship side Birmingham City start the Europa League group stage with a home match against Portuguse side Sporting Braga. The match will take place at St Andrews Stadium in Birmingham, England on Thursday, September 15, 2011. Kickoff is scheduled for 20:05 BST (UK time), 21:05 CET (Central Europe), and 15:05 EST (USA Eastern).
Birmingham City v Sporting Braga TV Listings
It will be televised on DirecTV (USA), ITV4 (UK), SIC (Portugal), C+ (Spain/Finland), SuperSport (Africa), and on Al Jazeera Sport (Middle East).
Birmingham City v Sporting Braga Preview
Birmingham manager Chris Hughton
“I’m still mulling things over in my mind but I am conscious that we have a lot of games coming up right the way through to Christmas and have to manage the squad the best way I can.”
“I’m fortunate at the moment that I’ve got players who were injured available again, as well as others that I’ve added to the squad.
“I would have no problems with any changes that I do make and the team will be as strong as we can make it.”
“Nathan is very much back in the frame.”
“He’s a young lad and it’s all happened quite quickly for him.
“He probably wouldn’t have thought that at this stage of the season he would have been involved in as many games as he has. But my responsibility is to manage someone of his age and inexperience and I’ll take him out when I think it’s right. But he has already shown this season what an asset he is for us.
“Guirane is also in contention. He’s a player that’s come in and settled very well.
“He has played in a lot of big games before and he’s another one that I would have no hesitation in starting tomorrow.”
“There is a slight concern about Gomis but we haven’t ruled him out.”
“Zigic is not so far away. The slight problem is that although he’s trained he’s not been involved in any practice games.
“It might be a case of throwing him in at the deep end or bringing him off the bench, but he won’t be available against Braga.
“The only other two are Jordon Mutch who is going to be out for a period of time and Keith Fahey who could be back with us in the next couple of weeks.”
Team Stat Comparison
| Birmingham | Braga | |
|---|---|---|
| Matches Played | 0 | 0 |
| Table Position | 1 | 2 |
| Points | 0 | 0 |
| Goal Difference | 0 | 0 |
| Goals for * | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Goals against * | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Last 5 | W-D | D-D |
| Last 5 home | W | D |
| Last 5 away | D | D |
| * Goals per match – home matches for home club and away matches for away club | ||
Competition Stats
| Birmingham | Braga | |
|---|---|---|
| Goals | Chris Wood 1 | Jorge Leal Rodrigues Helder Barbosa 1 |
| Assists | Jorge Leal Rodrigues Helder Barbosa 0 | |
| Yellows | Stephen Carr 2 | Jorge Leal Rodrigues Helder Barbosa 1 |
Tables
| PO | TEAM | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Birmingham
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 |
Braga
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 |
Club Brugge
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 |
NK Maribor
|
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Next Matches
| Birmingham | Braga | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/15 | Braga | 9/15 | @Birmingham |
| 9/29 | @NK Maribor | 9/29 | Club Brugge |
| 10/20 | @Club Brugge | 10/20 | @NK Maribor |
| 11/3 | Club Brugge | 11/3 | NK Maribor |
| 11/30 | @Braga | 11/30 | Birmingham |
Birmingham City v Sporting Braga Prediction
Birmingham wins 1-0
Birmingham City v Sporting Braga Odds
Birmingham win – 6/4
Draw – 23/10
Braga win – 13/8
