Sports activities Mole previews Tuesday’s EFL Cup conflict between Cheltenham City and Birmingham Metropolis, together with predictions, staff information and potential lineups.
Birmingham Metropolis will start their EFL Cup marketing campaign by visiting League One facet Cheltenham City on the Utterly-Suzuki Stadium on Tuesday evening.
The Robins have been in Shropshire on Saturday afternoon and have been unable to begin their third-tier marketing campaign with a win, whereas Birmingham recorded a decent draw at Swansea Metropolis to kickoff their Championship season.
Match preview
© Reuters
Cheltenham acquired off to a dropping begin in League One on the weekend at The Croud Meadow, with a second-half Ryan Bowman purpose secruing all three factors for Shrewsbury City.
Since promotion from the fourth tier as champions in 2021, the Robins have completed fifteenth, sixteenth and fifteenth, with the emphasis now on difficult for the top-six end in a division which has a whole lot of large hitters.
Former Birmingham midfielder Wade Elliott is at present on the helm on the Utterly-Suzuki Stadium – a venue which Cheltenham haven’t misplaced a aggressive fixture at since a 4-0 thrashing by Barnsley on February 18.
Life with out Alfie Might may show to be tough for the Robins, with considered one of League One’s high attackers transferring to Charlton Athletic after netting 20 third-tier objectives within the 2022-23 season.
Tuesday’s hosts have by no means progressed previous the third spherical of the EFL Cup, and final 12 months’s version noticed Cheltenham fall on the first stage for the primary time in three years after they have been demolished 7-0 by Exeter Metropolis.
Birmingham began a brand new period underneath American possession with a 1-1 attract South Wales towards Swansea Metropolis on Saturday, though Blues boss John Eustace claimed his staff did greater than sufficient to win the sport.
Former Peterborough United winger Siriki Dembele opened his account for the Second Metropolis membership with a composed end following tireless urgent from Keshi Anderson and Scott Hogan, nonetheless Jerry Yates equalised within the second half for Michael Duff‘s males to drive a share of the spoils.
Blues now journey to the Utterly-Suzuki Stadium for the second time this summer time, with strikes from Anderson, Jordan James and Juninho Bacuna that means Eustace’s males got here out on high throughout a five-goal pleasant match on June 22.
The EFL Cup supplied Birmingham with arguably the best second of their historical past, with Alex McLeish‘s Premier League Blues beating Arsenal within the 2011 last at Wembley courtesy of objectives from Nikola Zigic and Obafemi Martins.
Since that success over 12 years in the past, the West Midlands facet have used the competitors as a solution to introduce gifted kids into the primary staff, with a sure Jude Bellingham making his senior debut in a first-round tie at Portsmouth again in August 2019.
Cheltenham City type (all competitions):
Birmingham Metropolis type (all competitions):
Staff Information
© Reuters
Cheltenham are set to be with out midfielder Elliot Bonds on Tuesday, with the 23-year-old being compelled off at half time on the weekend within the loss at Shrewsbury.
Curtis Thompson was launched in consequence, and the summer time signing from Wycombe Wanderers ought to play alongside James Olayinka and Liam Sercombe within the hosts’ engine room.
The Robins reverted to a again 4 when pushing for an equaliser at The Croud Meadow on the weekend, nonetheless Elliott ought to choose a central-defensive trio of Lewis Freestone, Tom Bradbury and Sean Lengthy for this EFL Cup conflict.
Birmingham will make quite a few modifications from the facet who drew in South Wales on Saturday, and a few can be enforced, with Ethan Laird and Tyler Roberts each being taken off towards Swansea because of knocks.
James was unfortunate to not begin Blues’ Championship opener following his pre-season performances, nonetheless the Wales worldwide needs to be handed a beginning berth on this one.
Eustace opted for a sturdier duo of Ivan Sunjic and Krystian Bielik for the conflict towards the Swans on the weekend, though the extra forward-thinking Bacuna is more likely to be within the guests’ XI as they appear to dominate proceedings in Gloucestershire.
Marc Roberts is about to be on the sidelines for a few weeks because of a calf pressure, that means Eustace solely has Dion Sanderson and Kevin Lengthy as first-team centre-back choices for the subsequent three matches a minimum of.
Cheltenham City potential beginning lineup:
Southwood; Lengthy, Bradbury, Freestone; Thompson, Smith, Sercombe, Olayinka, Williams; Road, Keena
Birmingham Metropolis potential beginning lineup:
Etheridge; Oakley, Lengthy, Sanderson, Longelo; Sunjic, Bacuna, Anderson, James, Miyoshi; Jutkiewicz
We are saying: Cheltenham City 1-2 Birmingham Metropolis
Cheltenham have been unsuccessful throughout their opening recreation of the League One season, nonetheless an unbeaten dwelling report since February can be onerous for Birmingham to interrupt.
Blues journey to face the Robins for the second time in lower than a month, and we imagine Eustace’s males can have sufficient high quality of their squad on the evening to e book a spot in spherical two.
For knowledge evaluation of the more than likely outcomes, scorelines and extra for this match please click on right here.
Prime tip
Our knowledgeable tipster companions at Sporita.com are predicting over 2.5 objectives on this match. Click on right here to seek out out what else they’re predicting for this recreation and for extra of their tried-and-tested soccer suggestions.Over 2.5:curl
Previews by e-mail
Click on right here to get Sports activities Mole‘s each day e-mail of previews and predictions for each main recreation!
Comments are closed.