![\"Patrick](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_JS398558364.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPatrick Roberts hasn’t played in Birmingham City’s last three games and Demarai Gray has been benched for Ibrahim Osman<\/p>\n
Patrick Roberts of Birmingham City<\/p>\n
Patrick Roberts and Demarai Gray were nailed on starters for Birmingham City<\/a> before Christmas<\/a>, but they have become fringe figures in recent weeks.<\/p>\n Not so long ago it was hard to imagine a line-up without the wide duo and they were pivotal in important Championship victories in 2025.<\/p>\n Roberts<\/a> helped Sunderland earn promotion to the Premier League last season and his signing, initially on loan before the deal was made permanent in January, was well received by supporters.<\/p>\n FOLLOW ON FACEBOOK! <\/strong>All the latest Blues news on Birmingham Live\u2019s Birmingham City FC Facebook page<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The 29-year-old has contributed five goals and five assists this season \u2013 only strikers Jay Stansfield and Marvin Ducksch have been more productive in the final third.<\/p>\n But the \u00a37million acquisition of Spanish right-sider Carlos Vicente<\/a> has cost Roberts his place in the starting XI.<\/p>\n Roberts hasn\u2019t started an away game since January and he has been an unused substitute in the last three matches.<\/p>\n Explaining Roberts\u2019 recent omissions, Blues manager Chris Davies<\/a> said: \u201cCarlos has been in games where they\u2019ve been quite tight and he\u2019s lasted really well.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes with wingers, you can see their legs are going and you think we need freshness, but Carlos seems to be able to go and go and go.<\/p>\n \u201cOften we\u2019ve had situations where he\u2019s had a big defensive job and I haven\u2019t wanted to change that because he\u2019s a slightly different profile to Pat, and I haven\u2019t really wanted to take him off.<\/p>\n \u201cBut Pat has had big moments for us. I\u2019ve not forgotten what Pat can do and I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll see Pat on the pitch between now and the end of the season.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to open something up when it\u2019s tight and have that creativity, especially with a leftie on the right, Pat\u2019s our man. We\u2019ve just got to use him at the right times.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been patient. He wants to play, of course, but I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll get that chance before the end of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n Demarai Gray of Birmingham City<\/p>\n Gray<\/a> is in a similar boat. With 10 goal contributions before Christmas, Gray was a contender for Blues\u2019 Player of the Season award before a calf injury sustained on Boxing Day derailed his campaign.<\/p>\n The Premier League-winning winger hasn\u2019t been able to regain his form and has been forced to watch on from the sidelines as Ibrahim Osman has made the left-wing position his own.<\/a><\/p>\n Osman will miss Saturday\u2019s game against Bristol City due to concussion<\/a> which gives Gray the opportunity to finish the season at St Andrew\u2019s on a high.<\/p>\n Davies, who coached Gray previously at Leicester City, said: \u201cI spoke to Dimmy at length about this this week. I know Dimmy when he\u2019s at his best and he\u2019s feeling great, confident, strong, and he\u2019s got the ability to play regardless, but you really know when he\u2019s at his top form.<\/p>\n \u201cSince his injury he hasn\u2019t found the same rhythm because Osman has been in a bit more and he hasn\u2019t had the games he had before.<\/p>\n \u201cHe will benefit from an off-season but I\u2019ve challenged him to go and have a really strong finish to this season.<\/p>\n \u201cOsman isn\u2019t available for this game so it presents the perfect opportunity for Dimmy to show what he can do. He\u2019s got quality, really good quality, and I know he\u2019s really keen to finish on a high.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the start of the season it was Dimmy and Pat all the way. We didn\u2019t really have many other options and they both contributed a lot, and we haven\u2019t forgotten that.\u201d<\/p>\n 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":"Patrick Roberts hasn’t played in Birmingham City’s last three games and Demarai Gray has been benched for Ibrahim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":915972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,1205,748,8372,55206,393,4884,56890,16,15],"class_list":["post-915971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-birmingham","tag-birmingham","tag-birmingham-city-fc","tag-britain","tag-chris-davies-football-coach","tag-demarai-gray","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-patrick-roberts","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116461215683064217","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915971","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=915971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/915972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Demarai](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_JS400752643-1.jpg\")
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