Birmingham City's next League One opponents suffering injury crisis

Birmingham City's next opponents Northampton Town are down to the bare bones with only 14 senior players available.

The Cobblers unlike Blues did not make the next round of the Emirates FA Cup, as they suffered the embarrassment of going out to lower league opposition. Local rivals Kettering Town inflicted a 2-1 defeat on to Northampton in front of the television cameras on Saturday.

Tom Eaves was not in the match day squad at the weekend, having only lasted 14 minutes as a substitute against Lincoln City. Northampton are short of striking options, and are without a recognised senior forward.

"Tom is seeing specialists today and we are waiting for the feedback to find out the full extent of his facial injuries,” said Brady to the Northampton Chronicle.

“He’s had some initial assessments but we need some more clarity.

"We might have one or two back in the next couple of weeks but none of the rest. That’s just where we’re at. Hopefully we get some positives on Tom but we’re living in a bit of hope at the moment.

"To have six operations out of the 11 that are injured is tough in anyone’s book and these injuries are happening in games so we can’t legislate for that.”

Sam Hoskins is out along with Jordan Willis, Aaron McGowan, James Wilson and Matt Dibley-Dias. Patrick Brough, Luke Mbete, Callum Morton and Ali Koiki are all long-term absentees.

To make matters worse, it’s likely that Northampton Town will be unable to call upon one of their strikers at the weekend. Tyler Roberts is on loan from Birmingham, and it’s very rare that parent clubs allow players to play against them.

George Hall was loaned out to Walsall and when the two sides met in the EFL Trophy, however Hall did not feature against his primary employers. Birmingham will face the same dilemma when they face Cambridge United and Burton Albion with both Emmanuel Longelo and Romelle Donovan both loaned out to their league rivals.