Birmingham City's reign under Tony Mowbray begins on Saturday when Swansea City are the visitors to St Andrew's for their EFL Championship clash.
Mowbray met with the press on Thursday, and has seen the players he has at his disposal. The 60-year-old will be tasked with choosing a side capable of beating the Swans, who themselves are hoping for a new manager bounce after appointing Luke Williams. Williams left Notts County for South Wales and he was in the dugout as they beat Morecambe in the FA Cup last week.
There is an uncertainty on the future of Jordan James who was linked with a move to Serie A side Atalanta earlier this month. Reports in Italy say that a verbal agreement has been made between the player's representatives and Atalanta but now they will need to strike a deal with Blues who might need to sell him if they are to make any funds available to Mowbray this month.
Birmingham in their last game drew 1-1 with Hull City in the FA Cup and opened the scoring through Lukas Jutkiewicz. Several changes were made with Steve Spooner managing the team for one game, but a different looking XI is expected for the arrival of Swansea.
Wayne Rooney had to deal with a fair amount of injuries during his time here, and in some cases there are some players who never got to play a competitive game under him. Here's the latest injury and team news ahead of Birmingham City versus Swansea City in the EFL Championship.
1. Ethan Laird (Birmingham) - out
Laird injured his hip during the 0-0 draw with Rotherham and further investigation has revealed a tear. The right-back is likely to miss all of December and most of January. | Getty Images Photo: Getty Images
2. Josh Ginnelly - out
Ruptured his Achilles in September and is unlikely to play again this season. | Getty Images Photo: Getty Images
3. Alfie Chang (Birmingham) - out
Chang suffered an ACL knee injury in training back in August and he’s expected to miss the majority – if not all – of the season following surgery. | Getty Images
4. Liam Walsh - doubt
Came off after 10-minutes against West Brom on New Year's Day and didn't play in the FA Cup last weekend. | Getty Images Photo: Getty Images