Predicted Birmingham City team vs Exeter City: £1.5m star starts as Chris Davies rings the changes

Birmingham City bud to end this slump in form as they make their longest trip of the League One season to face Exeter City.

A draw against Northampton Town before the international break and then a defeat to Shrewsbury Town has seen them slide down the table. They're no longer in the top two with Wrexham and Stockport County overtaking them.

Birmingham need to issue a response, and sometimes players are thankful that there’s a game quickly around the corner to put things right. A freshen up of the side might be needed to get things going again.

Birmingham City predicted XI vs Exeter City

Here are the 11 Birmingham City players we reckon will start against Exeter City this Tuesday

GK: Ryan Allsop

He won’t be happy with conceding three goals to Shrewsbury at the weekend. He’ll want to put things right and come out with a clean sheet.

RB: Taylor Gardner-Hickman

An unused substitute at the weekend, and he's not started a league game since the win against Lincoln City. Gardner-Hickman is full of energy and whilst his main position is centre-back, maybe he should come in for Laird.

CB: Christoph Klarer

Started in most of Birmingham’s league matches.

CB: Ben Davies

The return of Krystian Bielik meant that something had to give and it meant Ben Davies had to drop to the bench. The defence was pretty sound with him in it, so maybe he could earn a recall?

LB: Alex Cochrane

Lee Buchanan is closing in on a return, but will need to build up his match fitness first. Cochrane for the time being will hold down his spot in the side

CM: Marc Leonard

The former Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder will have wanted more starts for sure. He would come in for Paik Seung-ho.

CM: Tomoki Iwata

Iwata was on the score sheet on Saturday in what was one of the few positives. He should get the nod to start again.

RW: Jay Stansfield

The club record signing is used to leading the line, but perhaps he could hurt his former employers by targeting them on the wing.

CAM: Willum Willumsson

One of the key players in this side. He’ll have the key to unlock the Grecians defence.

LW: Ayumu Yokoyama

Keshi Anderson was brought off for Lyndon Dykes in the first-half, and he wouldn’t have been happy. Ayumu Yokoyama is still waiting for his first start in the league, and now might be the time to get it.

ST: Alfie May

t's time to get May back among the goals. His last league goal came at the start of October, though he did get a brace of assists against Lincoln City. May was the division’s top scorer last season, and he’ll want to improve his goals tally. May has a good record against Exeter, having been directly involved in five goals in five league starts, registering four goals and an assist.