"Start rotating" - Clear Birmingham City message issued to Chris Davies after Bolton Wanderers loss | OneFootball

FLW's Blues fan pundit believes that injuries in Chris Davies' squad are the club's biggest issue right now

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

FLW's Birmingham City fan pundit has identified the number of injuries in Chris Davies' squad as the biggest issue that the club faces right now as Blues close in on an immediate return to the Championship at the top of the League One standings.

Birmingham's unstoppable campaign has been well-documented, particularly over the last few months, as they edge ever closer to a third-tier title-winning season that has looked all too easy, at times, for Davies' side.

They currently sit top of League One with 76 points, nine ahead of second-placed Wycombe Wanderers with a game in hand on the Chairboys, but did suffer their first league defeat since late November last time out against play-off chasers Bolton Wanderers.

Blues went ahead through Emil Hansson at the Toughsheet Community Stadium on Tuesday evening, but then conceded three goals without reply as Steven Schumacher's men inflicted their first third-tier loss in 18 games.

Whether that game was just a blip, or the start of a shock downfall, remains to be seen, but Davies has had to contend with numerous injury issues to his key players over recent weeks, and will hope to have some of them back as soon as possible with the run-in on the horizon.

Birmingham City fan pundit offers injury "biggest issue" verdict after Bolton loss

It is fair to say that Birmingham's current squad boasts a number of players who are just too good for the third-tier at this point in their respective careers, but that has arguably meant that they have suffered even more when said players have been sidelined or not match fit.

At this current moment in time, Davies is without number one goalkeeper Ryan Allsop and first-choice right-back Ethan Laird, as well as the likes of Keshi Anderson, Marc Leonard, Lee Buchanan, Scott Wright and Lyndon Dykes. Top-scorer Jay Stansfield also missed four games through injury last month, but returned to the bench against the Trotters in midweek.

Blues have not faced many obstacles in their seamless charge towards automatic promotion this season, but FLW's City fan pundit Mike Gibbs believes that injuries are the club's biggest issue right now, and that extra precautions need to be taken to make sure that no more long-term absentees enter the treatment room over the next two months.

“Our biggest issue at the minute is injuries,” Mike told FLW.

“The games are coming thick and fast at the moment, because of the number of games we’ve got in hand from international cancellations and the cup run we went on.

“I think (against Bolton) there were eight first-team players out injured. Whilst we have got a big squad, a very strong squad, if we lose any more we will start to get very thin on the ground.

“That would be the number one issue, for me, at the moment. I think it’s about not rushing back those that are injured, and very much looking after the players that can play at the moment.

“I know Chris Davies doesn’t like to chop and change things in the league too much, but I do feel like now is the time to start rotating a little bit, even if it’s just one or two players a week to help manage their minutes.”

Birmingham

First-choice keeper Allsop has been a safe pair of hands in between the sticks for Davies' side this season, so it was a blow to see him turn his ankle in the dying embers of their 1-0 win over Wycombe on Saturday, especially after main right-back Laird had hobbled off with a hamstring strain just minutes earlier.

Both players missed out on the trip to Bolton, and while Taylor Gardner-Hickman filled in for Laird and was taken off before the hour mark with a red card beckoning, it was stand-in shot-stopper Bailey Peacock-Farrell who caught the attention for all the wrong reasons after being found wanting for the hosts' first goal and generally struggling all night.

One huge positive on the injury front for Blues was the return of star striker Stansfield, who has netted 16 league goals this season after a big-money move from Fulham last summer, and he will surely claim his starting berth back from now until the end of the campaign, starting with the visit of Lincoln City on Saturday.

Davies also moved to provide an update on both Allsop and Laird in the aftermath of the defeat to BirminghamLive, stating: "It will be a few games, they are not six-weekers but a week or two with both of them is what we’re looking at."

That will be music to the ears of the Blues boss and supporters alike, who will want to see promotion sewn up as soon as possible to relieve any fears of a shock downfall in the final 13 games of the campaign.

The likes of Buchanan, Wright and Dykes are all set to remain sidelined for the foreseeable future, but Davies will feel that he has more than enough at his disposal to see his side over the line in League One with Stansfield, Allsop and Laird back soon.