Birmingham City get their new Sky Bet Championship campaign underway on Saturday afternoon as they travel away to Swansea City.
John Eustace’s side had a largely successful pre-season even after a near-complete squad overhaul as the new signings bedded in quickly.
Four matches saw Blues win three and lose one, with the latest outing ending in a narrow 3-2 defeat to League One outfit Peterborough United.
Bluenoses will have fond recent memories of heading to South Wales as Birmingham scored two dramatic late goes to complete a tremendous 4-3 turnaround victory in February.
Eustace and his men will be hoping for a similar result this time around, though both teams do of course look very different now from what they did a few months back.
It’s tough to call whether Birmingham will go for a three-back or four-back this weekend but we reckon it’ll be the latter due to a few slight injury and fitness concerns.
With that in mind, flick through the pages to see the 11 players we think will start at Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday, as well as a brief explanation for each inclusion.
1. GK: John Ruddy
The Players’ Player of the Season in 2022/23, Ruddy continues as number one choice.
2. RB: Marcel Oakley
Risky perhaps to start such an inexperienced youngster, but Eustace has admitted Laird has a knock.
3. CB: Kevin Long
Was key to Blues’ success towards the end of last term and edges into the team ahead of Marc Roberts.
4. CB: Dion Sanderson
Birmingham’s new captain, Sanderson will be one of the first names in the XI every week.