Football is a game of contrasting styles & tactics & certainly it is hard to think of two teams who are more contrasting in both than Arsenal & Birmingham City & that makes this a fascinating match to assess.

The fluent passing, free scoring football of Arsenal comes directly up against the solid, organised, defensive football that Birmingham City excel at so the key factor to this game will be which side employs their own tactics the best.

In that respect, Arsenal are certain to play only one way in this game & that is to go all out on the attack just as they have done in their last 2 home games scoring 10 goals in the process.

Arsenal have produced some amazing football in their last two home league games against Wigan & Blackburn with Cesc Fabregas, Andrei Arshavin & Robin Van Persie producing combinations of attacking play that any side in the world would struggle to cope with.

Arsenal will come into this game with maximum confidence & we fully expect Arsenal to full tilt at it but they may have to show more patience against a Birmingham City side who are very well drilled at defending.

Alex McCleish has made no secret that he believes Birmingham City's best chance of survival is to play a tight, defensive game based on limiting their opponents chances & to be fair they have done quite well at that.

Birmingham City's big & potentially costly weakness is their inability to score goals & so that will put even greater pressure on themselves in this game & they clearly face a severe test.

Arsenal have an excellen record against Birmingham City in the Premier League & while Birmingham City will attempt to hold Arsenal back, Arsenal really should have too much attacking fluency & quality on the day with comfortable home win for Arsenal looking a solid bet despite the odds.

Given the prohibitive match odds, betting value can be found in the correct score & first goalscorer markets which certainly look tempting.