Birmingham City have a dress rehearsal for Ipswich Town against Nottingham Forest on Saturday (3pm)
Birmingham City reporter for BirminghamLive and the Birmingham Mail
Paik Seung-ho of Birmingham City
Birmingham City conclude their pre-season campaign against Premier League side Nottingham Forest and Chris Davies is expected to show his hand.
The Championship opener against Ipswich Town is only a week away meaning this is Blues’ final dress rehearsal.
Phil Neumann confirmed his fitness earlier this week after missing the friendly at Port Vale last week, while Paik Seung-ho and Jay Stansfield have both trained in the build-up to Forest.
Will Davies reinstate three players who many believe will be instrumental to the club’s Championship chances in 2025/26?
Let’s start in goal where Ryan Allsop appears to have the edge over summer arrival James Beadle. Loan goalkeepers from Premier League clubs, particularly ones as highly-rated as Beadle, usually win these battles but Allsop deserves the chance to start the season in goal.
Christoph Klarer and Alex Cochrane make up half of Blues’ back four but there are two question marks. Neumann’s body of work in pre-season has been more impressive than Eiran Cashin’s brief debut at Port Vale so he is expected to return to partner Klarer.
There is little to choose between Bright Osayi-Samuel and Ethan Laird at right-back but the former might get the nod having played 65 minutes last weekend.
Tomoki Iwata will anchor the midfield and Paik should return to partner him with Tommy Doyle operating slightly ahead of them.
Keshi Anderson kept his left-wing berth at Vale but we know he can operate effectively off the right and playing Demarai Gray in his favoured position will be the key to getting the best out of him.
That leaves one position up front and it’s a straight choice between Kyogo Furuhashi and Stansfield.
Stansfield’s lack of minutes since the Sevilla friendly on July 12 leaves Davies with two choices: play him in the hope of fast-tracking his fitness or persist with Kyogo in the hope that relationships start to develop between him and his new teammates.
Kyogo seems likely to get the nod, meaning Stansfield won’t start unless Davies springs another surprise.
Predicted Blues line-up for Forest…
(4-2-3-1): Allsop; Osayi-Samuel, Neumann, Klarer, Cochrane; Iwata, Paik; Anderson, Doyle, Gray; Kyogo
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