Birmingham City take on Cardiff City in the Championship tonight.
Birmingham City head to South Wales to take on an impressive Cardiff City side at the Cardiff City Stadium this evening.
It’ll be another tough game for Wayne Rooney who’s only won one of his opening nine games as Blues boss, with his side having dropped from 6th to 17th since his appointment in October.
Last time out, Birmingham City lost 2-0 away at Coventry City, whilst 9th place Cardiff City picked up a 1-0 win at home to Millwall.
The Bluebirds could move into the top six with a big win over Blues tonight.
The latest Birmingham City team news
As ever, Birmingham City have a lengthy injury list. But Rooney is set to be boosted by the return of skipper Dion Sanderson tonight, after the defender missed the Coventry game with what Rooney has since described as a ‘freak’ foot injury.
But Rooney says that Cody Drameh remains a couple of weeks away from a return to action, with fellow right-back Ethan Laird also on the sidelines.
Keshi Anderson, Alfie Chang, George Hall, Kevin Long, and Tyler Roberts remain longer-term absentees for Blues, though the latter has recently returned to training after spending several weeks out with a calf injury.
How will Wayne Rooney’s side line up tonight?
Given recent form, changes seem to be necessary every week. But injuries are really limiting Rooney’s options right now.
Birmingham City were once again ineffectual vs Coventry last time out and so another change in shape could be on the cards.
Blues started with Lukas Jutkiewicz up front last time out but he failed to make an impact, and so too did the likes of Koji Miyoshi who came under scrutiny after the game.
But Miyoshi and the likes of Jay Stansfield remain Blues’ biggest threats in attack, along with Siriki Dembele who’s yet to really shine under the new boss.
Expect Sanderson to come back into the XI in place of Marc Roberts should he be fit enough to do so.
The right-back berth is a difficult one to predict with youngster Marcel Oakley the only recognised right-back currently available, though Juninho Bacuna started in that position last time out.
Bacuna is better utilised further up the pitch though and so there could be a rare start on the cards for Oakley tonight.
Here’s how we expect Birmingham City to line up against Cardiff City…
Ruddy (GK)
Buchanan
Aiwu
Sanderson
Oakley
Bielik
James
Dembele
Miyoshi
Bacuna
Stansfield