Birmingham City predicted XI vs Peterborough United: Bowyer to continue with new system

Birmingham City manager Lee Bowyer is expected to name a very similar side for Tuesday evening’s Championship clash with Peterborough United to the one that secured a 2-1 victory over Barnsley on Saturday.

For the first time in a long time, the Blues boss opted to move to away from the five at the back system midweek and instead chose to revert to a flat back four.

The team for the most part looked far more comfortable throughout the 90 minutes and with that said it would make little sense to stray away from it versus the Posh.

It’s not a surprise that certain players looked happier too considering they were back playing in their natural positions rather than being used as square pegs in round holes.

With that all said, here’s the line-up we see starting from the off on Tuesday.

Goalkeeper

Neil Etheridge pulled off a number of top saves against the Tykes and won’t be in any danger of losing his place.

Defence

Kristian Pedersen reverted to his natural position of left-back on Saturday and should start there again with Maxime Colin on the opposite flank. The centre-back pairing of Marc Roberts and Teden Mengi did a really solid job - the only change could potentially be the introduction of George Friend for Roberts if Bowyer feels the latter needs a rest.

Midfield

The formation in the middle tended to alternate between a 4-2-2-2 and a 4-2-3-1 last time out with Ryan Woods and Gary Gardner sitting at all times. Gardner’s performance wasn’t at all impressive though and I think we see Ivan Sunjic come in in his place.

The two forward players should stay the same. Onel Hernandez was superb and young Jordan James seemed to compliment his game really well. It was a really nice combination and l personally certainly want to see more of it.

Attack

Scott Hogan and Lukas Jutkiewicz simply have to start together when they can. Whilst they may not be the most exciting of strikers on paper, they link up better than any up that end of the pitch for Blues and it’s no surprise Bowyer’s team seem to pick up the most wins when they play as a two.

Team in full

Birmingham City (4-2-2-2): Etheridge; Colin, Roberts, Mengi, Pedersen; Woods, Sunjic; Hernandez, James; Hogan, Jutkiewicz

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