{"id":416111,"date":"2025-09-11T15:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T15:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/416111\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T15:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T15:26:13","slug":"doyle-starts-kyogo-survives-as-birmingham-city-make-four-changes-for-stoke-predicted-xi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/416111\/","title":{"rendered":"Doyle starts, Kyogo survives as Birmingham City make four changes for Stoke – Predicted XI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris Davies has some big calls to make regarding Birmingham City’s line-up to play Stoke City this weekend\"Alex<\/p>\n

Birmingham City reporter for BirminghamLive and the Birmingham Mail<\/p>\n

\"TommyTommy Doyle of Birmingham City<\/p>\n

Chris Davies must decide whether to risk playing Birmingham City\u2019s<\/a> international contingent against Stoke City on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Blues boss has been without Bright Osayi-Samuel, Paik Seung-ho, Lewis Koumas, Willum Willumsson and Lyndon Dykes for the past two weeks \u2013 all apart from Dykes started Blues\u2019 last Championship fixture at Leicester.<\/p>\n

Will Davies<\/a> keep faith with them or trust the players who have been on the training ground over the international break?<\/p>\n

Koumas and Willumsson are quite easily replaceable but Osayi-Samuel and Paik have started every Championship game so far.<\/p>\n

There is a strong argument that Blues now have strong enough alternatives to leave both Osayi-Samuel and Paik out. Ethan Laird could switch back to right-back, which would allow Alex Cochrane to retake his place at left-back.<\/p>\n

And why sign Tommy Doyle if you aren\u2019t willing to deploy him in situations like this? Doyle is a strong alternative to Paik, who only reported back at Blues\u2019 base on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Demarai Gray has been passed fit after a slight shoulder concern and Davies says Jay Stansfield is \u2018close\u2019 to returning.<\/a><\/p>\n

If Stansfield is fit, now could be the time to take Kyogo Furuhashi<\/a> out of the firing line. Kyogo has failed to convert some big chances in the Championship and struggled to impose himself at Leicester last time out.<\/p>\n

Patrick Roberts has been signed to play on the right wing and there is no reason why he shouldn\u2019t go straight into the starting line-up.<\/p>\n

With Roberts, Gray and Stansfield in, that leaves one spot. The question is whether Marvin Ducksch is fit enough to start.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s getting there with his real, true fitness,\u201d says Davies. \u201cHe has turned up injured, he\u2019s missed pre-season, so we are trying to get him up to speed as we go along which isn\u2019t always easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t sound convincing. So, with that in mind, maybe Davies will revert to the Stansfield-Kyogo partnership that showed signs of flourishing at the start of the season.<\/p>\n

It would be a risk to not play Ducksch or Willumsson as it would leave Blues without a third six-foot-plus player for defensive set pieces, but it\u2019s one Davies might have to take due to the fitness and form, respectively, of the two aforementioned players.<\/p>\n

How Blues could line up at Stoke<\/p>\n

(4-2-3-1):<\/strong> Allsop; Laird, Neumann, Klarer, Cochrane; Iwata, Doyle; Roberts, Stansfield, Gray; Kyogo<\/p>\n

Do you agree with the XI? Let us know HERE<\/a>Get the latest Blues headlines sent straight to your phone<\/p>\n

BirminghamLive has its very own Birmingham City<\/a> WhatsApp community to deliver the latest headlines straight to your phone. Just click this link<\/a> to receive daily Blues content and breaking news. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out any time you like. Click on the name at the top of your screen while in WhatsApp and click ‘Exit Group’. Read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Davies has some big calls to make regarding Birmingham City’s line-up to play Stoke City this weekend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,1205,6452,748,393,4884,1206,10109,109335,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-416111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-birmingham-city-fc","10":"tag-bright-osayi-samuel","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-jay-stansfield","15":"tag-kyogo-furuhashi","16":"tag-paik-seung-ho","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115186367885146687","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}