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.
5. LB: Lee Buchanan
Buchanan, probably a contender for Blues player of the season, impressed despite defeat last time out. He was also superb against Preston and Leicester. | Getty Images
6. CM: Krystian Bielik
Bielik was pretty poor midweek, it has to be said, but he’s still bound to be ahead of Ivan Sunjic in the pecking order. | Getty Images
7. CM: Paik Seung-ho
Paik ended the game against Cardiff in a fairly advanced role but he tends to be best deeper alongside Bielik, where he can zip around passes in close quarters. | Getty Images
8. CAM: Alex Pritchard
Pritchard hasn’t hit the ground running but most appearances have been off the bench. Starting could benefit and it’s worth a shot. He’s obviously got the ability. | Getty Images