Birmingham City v Cardiff City Championship injury news as 10 out and 1 doubt

Latest injury and team news as Birmingham City face Cardiff City in the Sky Bet Championship at St Andrew’s.
Birmingham City host Cardiff City at St Andrew's in the Sky Bet Championship. The latest injury news including an update on Oliver Burke. (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)Birmingham City host Cardiff City at St Andrew's in the Sky Bet Championship. The latest injury news including an update on Oliver Burke. (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)
Birmingham City host Cardiff City at St Andrew's in the Sky Bet Championship. The latest injury news including an update on Oliver Burke. (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

Birmingham City take on Cardiff City at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park in the Sky Bet Championship on Wednesday evening.

Blues suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat to Leicester City on Saturday and are now in the relegation zone. Huddersfield Town won late on putting them a point above them whilst Sheffield Wednesday were also victorious, and so Birmingham are level on points with 23rd.

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Their next opponent Cardiff suffered a 3-1 defeat to play-off chasing Hull City at the weekend. On-loan West Brom forward Karlan Grant was on target for the Bluebirds.

Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield, Millwall and Plymouth Argyle are all in action on Tuesday so Birmingham can only watch on. If results go in their favour and Birmingham win, they could go to as high as 19th.

Wednesday’s match is huge for Birmingham and they’ll be hoping that they can take points of a Cardiff side that looks destined to finish mid-table. Here’s the latest injury and team news ahead of the match.

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Oliver Burke is out of action for Birmingham City. He is dealing with a muscle injury. (Image: Getty Images)Oliver Burke is out of action for Birmingham City. He is dealing with a muscle injury. (Image: Getty Images)
Oliver Burke is out of action for Birmingham City. He is dealing with a muscle injury. (Image: Getty Images)

Birmingham City team news

Birmingham City are to be without Lukas Jutkiewicz, Marc Roberts and Oliver Burke. The trio aren’t expected to play on Wednesday, and in Burke’s case he might not play again this term.

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Speaking after the defeat to Leicester, Rowett said: At the moment, the likes of Marc Roberts, Burkey, Jukey - they just have that real physicality that gives you something different in games - I think we probably miss them a little bit but it is what it is.

"We’re without that sort of player for maybe a few more games."

Rowett added: “Burkey is out injured at the moment and I don’t expect him to play that much of the season. Sometimes when you walk in it’s nice to see some players that you know, but the players that are available are the players who are going to get us results.”

Alfie Chang is the other player that is sidelined. He suffered a serious knee injury in August when John Eustace was in charge, and whilst his recovery has been positive, he isn’t expected to play any minutes this season.

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Out: Marc Roberts, Oliver Burke, Lukas Jutkiewicz and Alfie Chang.

Cardiff City team news

Cardiff City have still not given Aaron Ramsey a start since picking up a calf injury in February. The Wales captain has missed a large part of the campaign but returned in mid-March, but their manager Erol Bulut hasn’t deemed the FA Cup winning midfielder fit to start.

Goalkeeper Jak Alnwick has been out since mid-March with an injury. It was thought he'd be returning to the match-day squad soon but Ethan Horvath has played ahead of him and Matt Turner has deputised.

"Our goalkeeper Jak [Alnwick] still doesn't feel confident because of his knee injury,” said Bulut to the BBC. “It's a difficult place when you have this kind of injury. It's not easy to come back quick.

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"He's still afraid a little bit to touch or kick the ball. We have to be careful with him."

Rubin Colwill will miss the match after picking up an ankle injury in the defeat to Sunderland on Good Friday. Callum O'Dowda has endured a difficult campaign having been sidelined for months with a groin injury and his latest issue is a hamstring injury.

Centre-back Mark McGuinness has been out for a couple of months and won't play. He has not trained with Cardiff despite initial thoughts he could make a return in early April. Cardiff couldn't call upon Ryan Wintle on the weekend either, with an unspecified injury.

Josh Wilson-Esbrand could miss the remainder of the season after picking up an injury against Hull. He was subbed on as the Welsh side trailed but pulled up after just 18 minutes.

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Striker Kion Etete could miss the rest of the season. The 22-year-old who netted in the Carabao Cup against Birmingham in August has a groin issue and that could mean his season is over.

“He’s [Etete] still out with the groin injury," said Bulut.

"He was back for some training sessions but then he felt a pain again.

"I don’t think he’ll be back before the end of the season.”

Out: Jak Alnwick, Rubin Colwill, Mark McGuinness, Callum O’Dowda, Josh Wilson-Esbrand, Kion Etete. Doubt: Ryan Wintle.

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