Iwata and Stansfield start in Birmingham City predicted XI for Walsall
Birmingham City take on Walsall in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park this evening
Birmingham City reporter for BirminghamLive and the Birmingham Mail
The strength of Birmingham City’s squad will be tested this evening when Walsall come to town in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy.
Blues enjoyed a stellar transfer window to sign 17 players, including club-record signing Jay Stansfield, and some of them are in line for debuts against Walsall. With five injury doubts and five players away on international duty, Chris Davies’ expensively assembled squad will be stretched.
The Blues manager will make changes where necessary to give players minutes. The likes of Ben Davies and Tomoki Iwata could make their Blues debuts after transfers from Rangers and Celtic respectively.
READ: Tomoki Iwata has already told Birmingham City what to expect ahead of debut
READ: Scott Wright admits real reason he left Rangers for Birmingham City
Team news
Bailey Peacock-Farrell (Northern Ireland), Alfons Sampsted, Willum Willumsson (both Iceland), Luke Harris (Wales U21s) and Lyndon Dykes (Scotland) are all away on international duty. Blues’ meeting with Exeter City on Saturday has been postponed as a result.
Blues are also suffering with injuries to Ethan Laird, Dion Sanderson, Keshi Anderson, Lee Buchanan and Alfie Chang. Laird is the only one of that quintet who hasn’t been ruled out.
How could Blues line up?
Ryan Allsop is expected to start in goal and has the chance to stake his claim for the number one spot after a couple of errors from Peacock-Farrell.
Taylor Gardner-Hickman could deputise at right-back if Laird isn’t fit enough to start. Ben Davies could partner Christoph Klarer in central defence to give Krystian Bielik a break. Brandon Khela is the replacement for Alex Cochrane at left-back at the moment.
Marc Leonard made an impact as a substitute against Wigan and could be restored to the line-up. With Iwata in the building, now feels like the time to rest Paik.
Saturday’s match-winner Scott Wright could be in line for a first start. Stansfield and Ayumu Yokoyama could join him in the forward positions behind the striker. If Stansfield is playing in a withdrawn role there is space for Lukas Jutkiewicz up top.
(4-2-3-1): Allsop; Gardner-Hickman, Klarer, Davies, Cochrane; Iwata, Leonard; Wright, Stansfield, Yokoyama; Jutkiewicz
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