Birmingham City will be looking to pick up an important three points as they aim to stay clear of the Championship relegation zone on Saturday.
Blues are set to host Southampton at St Andrew’s. They will be aiming to bounce back from their 3-1 defeat away to another promotion hopeful, Ipswich Town, last time out.
With manager Tony Mowbray still absent for medical reasons, Mark Venus will once again take charge against the Saints.
Following that defeat, he may have some big decisions when it comes to his selections for this weekend.
One player who he ought to consider calling on to try and get Birmingham City back on track in that match, is Alex Pritchard.
Birmingham City get Alex Pritchard boost
Back in the January transfer window, Pritchard made the move to St Andrew’s on a two-and-a-half-year contract.
That saw him reunite with Mowbray and Venus, who he had previously played under at his former club Sunderland.
Since then however, the attacking midfielder has made just a single appearance for Birmingham City, due to a calf injury.
However, the 30-year-old is now available for selection once more, having recoved from that injury.
He could therefore feature for the first time since 1-0 defeat at West Brom at the start of February.
In the circumstances, that is a chance that Venus must surely give to Pritchard.
Alex Pritchard can give Blues a lift
Bringing Pritchard back into the Birmingham City starting XI against Southampton could be a smart move from Venus.
The attacking midfielder has plenty of experience at this level, with 188 appearances at this level.
Going into the game, Birmingham City know they need points to stay clear of the bottom three, while Southampton are desperate to keep pace in the promotion race.
As a result, he could certainly help the younger members of Blues squad, in what will be a high pressure game.
Beyond that, Pritchard may also feel he has a point to prove if he is given a chance to show what he can do in this game.
He has been made to wait for his opportunities at Birmingham City, and could now be keen to make up for lost time here.
Indeed, speaking in the lead up to this game, Venus has described Pritchard as being ‘very driven’.
Bringing that desire into the side, could help to spark a response from his teammates, and help put an out of form Southampton side under more pressure.
Beyond that Venus has somewhat been thrown in at the deep end at Birmingham City in Mowbray’s absence.
It could therefore help for him to turn to a player such as Pritchard who he already knows from his time at Sunderland, and may therefore be able to get more out of.
With that in mind, it could be a sensible move to put the 30-year-old back into the Birmingham City starting lineup on Saturday afternoon.