Wycombe Wanderers v Birmingham City early team news with 3 doubts and 5 out
Blues are in good spirits after winning 1-0 in the capital on Tuesday, with academy graduate Brandon Khela scoring the winning goal. As for Wycombe, they were also victorious as they won 2-0 against Northampton Town with Daniel Udoh on target for the Chairboys.
Both teams failed to win on the opening weekend of the league campaign, with Birmingham drawing 1-1 against Reading, and Wycombe succumbing to a 3-2 defeat to Wrexham. Here’s the latest team news from both camps prior to each manager’s pre-match press conference.
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Alex Hartridge was sent off in the 78th minute against Northampton and as a result, he is set to serve a suspension. He was given a second yellow card for time wasting and as two bookable offences cannot be appealed, he will have to sit things out against Birmingham.
Brandon Hanlan has been involved in light training having spent the last nine months on the sidelines with a serious knee injury. The 27-year-old remains sidelined and isn’t in contention to play at the weekend.
At the weekend, David Wheeler and Beryly Lubala missed out on Wycombe's opening day clash with Wrexham through injury. Neither recovered in time to feature in the squad against the Cobblers, and are doubtful for the weekend.
Out: Alex Hartridge and Brandon Hanlan. Doubts: Beryly Lubala and David Wheeler.
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Birmingham like Wycombe won despite having a player sent off. Dion Sanderson was sent off for a second bookable offence after pulling back a Charlton player, and Birmingham are unable to appeal the decision.
Willum Willumsson had to be withdrawn early against Reading, and played no part against Charlton. A knee issue is waht the Icelandic defender is contending with, and the break in midweek might give him an outside chance of playing.
In his post-match press conference, manager Chris Davies admitted to BirminghamLive that George Hall would be loaned out. He hasn’t been involved in the first two match day squads of the competitive season, and that could mean he isn’t involved at the weekend.
Davies said: “For the players that we don’t think will get enough game time, that need the minutes to go and develop somewhere else, then we would definitely look at that and George might fall into that category.
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Hide Ad“Those decisions will get clarified in the next week or two as we move towards the end of the window.
“I will say again with George, he has been working really well – playing out of position, which isn’t easy, but adapting to it. It’s important we strike this balance between keeping the fringe players but also giving them exposure and game time. We will map all of that out for George in the next few weeks.”
Academy midfielder Alfie Chang is still working to get back to full fitness after suffering a serious knee injury last summer. Lee Buchanan is out after being dealt a calf problem in pre-season.
Out: Alfie Chang, Dion Sanderson and Lee Buchanan. Doubt: George Hall.
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