Birmingham City are at St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park for the penultimate time this season as they take on Coventry City in the Sky Bet Championship.
Blues, condemned to a 1-0 defeat by Cardiff City midweek, must bounce back after plummeting to 23rd in the league standings. It was a mightily disappointing display on home soil and Gary Rowett’s side are now staring relegation in the face.
Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town are both one point above but Birmingham have a superior goal difference. Blues and the Terriers look likely to play out one of the most important games of the season as they play one another on April 27, too.
With defensive incompetence and attacking indecisiveness aplenty, something simply has to change in Blues’ XI. Rowett has an issue, though, as there aren’t valid centre-back options to rotate in and most forwards are lacking confidence.
Including a role change for Jordan James and a benching for a usually important player, here’s the Birmingham lineup we predict will take on Coventry.
1. GK: John Ruddy
Ruddy remains Blues’ first-choice goalkeeper, at least for the rest of this season. So many more goals would have been let in if it wasn’t for him and his experience.
2. RB: Ethan Laird
Laird struggled last time out in the 1-0 defeat to Cardiff but was brilliant against Leicester at both ends of the field.
3. CB: Emanuel Aiwu
The Austrian struggled earlier this campaign but he’s done a decent job in the last few matches. Marc Roberts’ injury makes the position rather locked down.
4. CB: Dion Sanderson
The skipper hasn’t made many individual errors recently but he’s been too quiet. His leadership needs to shine through better in these final matches.