Birmingham City v Burton Albion injury news as 4 out and 2 doubts

Birmingham City are set to play in front of another bumper crowd when they host Burton Albion at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park on Boxing Day in the EFL League One.

Blues will have a shorter break than most teams in the division as they only played on Monday night, defeating Crawley Town 1-0 thanks to a Jay Stansfield goal. Chris Davies' men are top at Christmas, whilst Burton find themselves second from bottom after a recent defeat to Exeter City.

With the Crawley game coming late, preparations for the Brewers are far from ideal, but Birmingham can deal with that. Here's the latest injury and team news.

Birmingham City injury news

Emil Hansson was back in the squad on Monday against Crawley following a two-month absence. A muscle injury had him sidelined, but he was among the seven that took their place on the bench, though he didn't come on.

Alex Cochrane had to be stretchered off against Barnsley earlier this month. He suffered a laceration on his foot and hasn't been able to train fully, but could close in on a return shortly.

Speaking to BirminghamLive, manager Chris Davies said: "He’s another one who is able to do a little bit more outside, some controlled training and he’s building up day by day.

"Alex is fully fit as such, it’s just the cut that he’s had on his foot but he’ll be able to go again within a few days.”

Alfons Sampsted and Scott Wright aren't expected to come back in to the reckoning until the New Year. Both players are doing a little bit of training but there are doubts whether they will be seen over the next two games at least.

Wright has been missing since mid-October due to an unspecified injury which was sustained in a training session. Sampsted suffered his ankle injury whilst away on international duty with Iceland.

One player confirmed to be missing the match against Burton in Christoph Klarer. He picked up a booking against Crawley which was his fifth of the campaign in what was the final game before the amnesty comes in. As a result, he will have to serve a one game suspension.

Out: Alfons Sampsted, Christoph Klarer and Scott Wright. Doubt: Alex Cochrane.

Burton Albion injury news

Geraldo Bajrami is a long-term absentee, and will play no part on Thursday. The 25-year-old suffered a season-ending injury just two games in to his Brewers career. He sustained anterior cruciate ligament damage during an EFL Trophy game in mid-August.

Rumarn Burrell was not a part of Gary Bowyer's first squad since taking over. The 24-year-old had played four consecutive league matches but didn’t make the 18 with Kegs Chauke replacing him.

Romelle Donovan was on a season-long loan at Burton but it was announced in early December that he would be recalled. He has since played for the age grade teams at Birmingham. At Burton, he made nine appearances in all competitions and will be unable to play for Birmingham until the New Year. He cannot play for Blues in the FA Cup or the EFL Trophy as he is cup tied.

Out: Geraldo Bajrami. Doubt: Rumarn Burrell