Gary Gardner starts: The predicted Birmingham City XI to face West Brom tomorrow | OneFootball

Birmingham City will be looking to deliver a response to their recent defeat to Nottingham Forest when they face West Bromwich Albion in the Championship tomorrow.

A woeful performance by the Blues allowed Steve Cooper’s side to seal a 3-0 victory at St Andrew’s earlier this month.

Having failed to win any of their last five league games, Birmingham know that they could be in for a tough evening if they are unable to step up to the mark at The Hawthorns on Friday.

After witnessing his side’s underwhelming display against Forest, it will be intriguing to see whether Lee Bowyer decides to make any alterations to his starting eleven for the club’s clash with the Baggies.

Here, we take a look at how Birmingham could line up in this particular fixture…

Having utilised the 3-4-1-2 formation on numerous occasions this season, Bowyer is likely to stick with this particular set up on Friday.

Goalkeeper Matija Sarkic will be looking to claim his sixth clean-sheet of the season against West Brom.

Krystian Pedersen could be partnered by Marc Roberts and Dion Sanderson in central-defence.

Sanderson may be drafted in as a replacement for Harlee Dean who only managed to record a WhoScored match rating of 5.88 in the club’s defeat to Forest.

Jeremie Bela and Maxime Colin are set to feature in the wing-back positions whilst Gary Gardner may feature in the heart of midfield alongside Ivan Sunjic.

The midfielder was ruled out of Birmingham’s last three games due to suspension after being sent-off in their clash with Peterborough United.

Certainly no stranger to life in the Championship, Gardner has played 236 games at this level during his career.

By using his wealth of experience to his advantage in tomorrow’s clash, he could help Birmingham secure a positive result against West Brom.

Tahith Chong is expected to feature in the hole behind Lukasz Jutkiewicz and Troy Deeney.

Deeney could replace Hogan in Birmingham’s starting eleven due to the fact that the club may need to rely on his hold-up play as they could be forced to play long as a result of West Brom’s willingness to press in the final-third of the pitch.