3-5-2, Bacuna starts: The predicted Birmingham City XI to face Reading tonight | OneFootball

Birmingham City will be determined to get back to winning ways in the Championship this evening when they host Reading at St Andrew’s.

Despite creating better opportunities than Blackpool in last weekend’s clash, the Blues were forced to settle for a point at Bloomfield Road.

Currently 14th in the second-tier standings, Birmingham will close the gap between them and the play-off places to two points if they beat Reading.

The Blues will need to be wary of the threat that the Royals will pose in this fixture as only Burnley, Sheffield United and Blackburn Rovers (12 each) have won more league games than Paul Ince’s side (10) this season.

After witnessing the club’s performance against the Seasiders, it will be intriguing to see whether John Eustace makes any alterations to the starting eleven tonight.

Here, we have decided to take a look at how Birmingham could line up against Reading…

Having opted to utilise the 3-5-2 formation on numerous occasions this season, Eustace is likely to deploy this particular system tonight.

Goalkeeper John Ruddy claimed his eighth clean-sheet of the 2022/23 campaign against Blackpool and will be keen to prevent Reading from scoring this evening.

Marc Roberts will be accompanied in the heart of Birmingham’s defence by Auston Trusty and Dion Sanderson.

Meanwhile, Emmanuel Longelo and Maxime Colin are expected to occupy the wing-back roles in this setup.

Krystian Bielik will feature in central midfield alongside Hannibal Mejbri and Juninho Bacuna.

Bacuna will be hoping to add to the four direct goal contributions that he has provided for Birmingham in the Championship this season in tonight’s game.

Having recorded a respectable WhoScored match rating of 7.01 against Blackpool, it will be interesting to see whether the midfielder will be able to help the Blues dictate play at St Andrew’s.

Eustace revealed earlier this week that Scott Hogan is facing a race to be fit for this fixture.

If the 30-year-old is unavailable for selection, Tahith Chong will feature in a two-striker formation alongside Troy Deeney.

Deeney will be looking to get back on the score sheet after failing to find the back of the net in each of his last two appearances for Birmingham.

Quiz: Have any of these 25 ex-Birmingham City players ever played for a Yorkshire based team?

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Odin Bailey?