John Eustace must patch Birmingham City up for their clash with Norwich City this weekend after injuries to key players Lee Buchanan and Keshi Anderson.
Buchanan and Anderson have started every Championship match they have been available for this season
, meaning Eustace will have to field a new-look left side against the Canaries. Manny Longelo is the leading candidate to replace Buchanan, while Siriki Dembele is surely favourite for Anderson’s role if Blues keep their 4-2-3-1 shape.
Speaking about Dembele – who has only just returned from a hamstring injury of his own – at his pre-Norwich press conference, Eustace said: “Siriki has been out for five or six weeks, you could see he was a bit rusty on Friday, but he hasn’t played in a while. He’s had a good week and we will assess him ahead of Saturday.”
An alternative option to 4-2-3-1 would be to play a back three at Carrow Road and hand Emanuel Aiwu his debut. Austrian defender Aiwu could play alongside Dion Sanderson and Kevin Long in defence, with Cody Drameh and Longelo as wing-ba
Eustace resisted the urge to change formation when Buchanan was suspended for the trip to Preston last week. Only time will
tell whether Eustace is willing to field Longelo as an orthodox left-back over an extended period.
Ivan Sunjic could come back into the team after being left out for the first time this season against Queens Park Rangers. Juninho Bacuna – who replaced Sunjic last time out – might be needed further forward if Jay Stansfield vacates the number 10 position to play centre-forward.
Calls to play Stansfield up front are growing after his stellar showing at Preston, and Scott Hogan’s costly miss against QPR. Check out our predicted line-up below…