Birmingham City vs West Brom team news: Starting lineups confirmed for Friday night Championship clash

Birmingham City vs Huddersfield Town team news

Birmingham City team news

John Eustace names an unchanged side from the team that beat Huddersfield Town 4-1 on Tuesday night. Cody

Drameh is at right-back with a centre-back partnership of Dion Sanderson and Kevin Long, whilst Emmanuel Longelo continues to deputise at left-back in Lee Buchanan’s absence.

Krystian Bielik and Ivan Sunjic are the two holding midfielders, and the later got an assist with his brilliant through ball for Siriki Dembele’s opener.

Tuesday’s man-of-the-match Dembele is fit enough to get a second consecutive start as he makes a full recovery towards the hamstring injury he suffered against Bristol City in August.

Koji Miyoshi plays in the ten role, and will hope for the same impact that he had in midweek, having scored. Juninho Bacuna continues to play in an advanced role on the right-side of midfield.

Leading the line is Jay Stansfield, who despite not scoring against Norwich City, put in a good display and now he is trusted to lead the line.

As the for the substitutes, it’s the same bench and if Oliver Burke is to affect the game against his former club, he’ll have to do it as a substitute. Burke was at West Brom from 2017 to 2020 after joining from RB Leipzig for a reported £15m, but is now in Blues ranks.

Blues starting XI: John Ruddy; Cody Drameh, Dion Sanderson, Kevin Long, Emmanuel Longelo; Krystian Bielik, Ivan Sunjic; Juninho Bacuna, Koji Miyoshi, Siriki Dembele; Jay Stansfield.

Blues subs: Neil Etheridge, Marc Roberts, Emanuel Aiwu, Gary Gardner, Jordan James, Brandon Khela, Oliver Burke, Scott Hogan and Lukas Jutkiewicz.

West Brom team news

Carlos Corberan makes one change as Grady Diangana comes in for Brandon Thomas-Asante. Diangana started against Preston and then BTA came in on Tuesday, but now Grady gets the nod for the starting position.

Semi Ajayi is available once again, but Corberan has opted to go with a back three of Kyle Bartley, Cedric Kipre and Erik Pieters.

Darnell Furlong and Matt Phillips are the two wing-backs and providing cover in midfield are Okay Yokuslu and Alex Mowatt who start once more. The aforementioned Diangana is alongside John Swift who netted the winner against Sheffield Wednesday in the week with Jed Wallace leading the line.

Baggies starting XI: Alex Palmer; Kyle Bartley, Cedric Kipre, Erik Pieters; Darnell Furlong, Okay Yokuslu, Alex Mowatt, Matt Phillips; Grady Diangana, John Swift; Jed Wallace.

Baggies subs: Josh Griffiths, Semi Ajayi, Pipa, Conor Townsend, Nathaniel Chalobah, Tom Fellows, Jayson Molumby, Brandon Thomas-Asante, Caleb Taylor