Stockport County v Birmingham City injury and team news as 8 out and 4 doubts

Birmingham City open the new year up with a trip to Edgeley Park to face promotion rivals Stockport County.

Blues played to a goalless draw with Blackpool on Sunday, whilst Stockport suffered a spate of injuries in their 1-1 draw with Rotherham United. Birmingham remain top of the division by a point and have two games in hand whilst Stockport are in fifth with 12-points and four places separating the two sides.

Both clubs have had to navigate their way through a busy period, and it’s eventually taken its toll. Here’s the latest injury and team news ahead of the EFL League One clash.

Stockport County team news

Louie Barry has seemingly played his final game of his loan spell after parent club Aston Villa made the decision to recall him. The 21-year-old netted his 15th league goal against Rotherham United, which has him leading the division for goals. He has interest from the Championship, but for the first part of the month he will be training with the Villa first-team. Dave Challinor though said that he had suffered a hamstring injury on Sunday.

Nick Powell and Tyler Onyango are both sidelined for the hosts with hamstring injuries. Powell has only made four appearances this term, and didn't play his first league game till the start of October, but after a run of four games, he suffered a hamstring injury, which has put him out for three months.

Onyango is on loan from Everton, and suffered his injury at the end start of November. He like Powell won't be seen in a Stockport shirt until well into the new year.

Lewis Bate is the latest to join the treatment room. David Challinor said he would be out for between three to four weeks, along with Tanto Olaofe who has been given a similar time frame for a return.

Fraser Horsfall was stretchered off, and he believes it will be 'months rather than weeks' in regards to the timeframe for his injury. The 28-year-old has played in 21 of their 23 games this season, and will be a key absentee.

Jayden Fevrier is 'out for a while' with a severe quad injury. The 21-year-old had mainly been a substitute, coming on 10 times off the bench, compared to his four league starts. He supplied a goal and an assist in the 14 games he played in this term before his injury.

Out: Nick Powell, Jayden Fevrier, Tyler Onyango, Lewis Bate, Fraser Horsfall, and Tanto Olaofe. Doubt: Louie Barry

Birmingham City news

It's feared that Lee Buchanan could be facing another lengthy spell on the sidelines after being stretchered off in the goalless draw with Blackpool. He went down with a knee injury just four minutes into the match, and was taken to hospital.

Speaking to BirminghamLive, manager Chris Davies said: "“There’s no definitive news but it didn’t look good. I’ve seen a picture of it and it doesn’t look good. He was in a lot of pain.

“It’s a real shame for someone who has worked so hard to get back to fitness, to have another big setback like that is really disappointing. We will have to see how he goes and obviously he will have a scan in the next few days.”

The 23-year-old will shortly undergo a scan to assess the severity of the damage, but the injury comes just as he was building up his match fitness again. He's been limited to four games this season, having missed four months of action due to a calf injury sustained during pre-season.

Buchanan wasn't the only injury problem to arise from Birmingham's last match as both Christoph Klarer and Emil Hansson both came off with injuries. Hansson, who only returned after missing all of November, and a large part of December, came off just before half-time.

“Emil has another muscular injury, the severity I don’t know," said Davies.

"It was innocuous, just jogging back into position I think and he felt something."

Christoph Klarer picked up a knock as he started his first game back after serving a one-game ban for picking up five yellow cards for the season. Ben Davies replaced him shortly before the hour-mark, and with such a short turnaround until their next game, he’s unlikely to feature.

It is hoped that Alfons Sampsted and Scott Wright could return shortly. The pair have been doing some training, and if they don't feature against Stockport County, then hopefully they would be able to feature against either Wigan Athletic, or Lincoln City.

Sampsted has been out since suffering an ankle injury in November whilst on international duty. Wright has been unavailable for selection since picking up an injury in the build-up to the game against Lincoln City.

Out: Lee Buchanan, and Emil Hansson. Doubt: Christoph Klarer, Scott Wright, and Alfons Sampsted.