Birmingham City manager Aitor Karanka has revealed that Adam Clayton and Jake Clarke-Salter are the only two players unavailable to him for his side's match with St Andrew's on Wednesday night.

It has been a frustrating season for Clarke-Salter so far, with the defender yet to make an appearance following his summer loan move from Chelsea due to a calf injury.

Clayton meanwhile, was absent from Birmingham's win at Preston on Saturday with an ankle problem, he picked up against Huddersfield the midweek before, and it seems that will again keep him out of action this evening.

Providing an update on his squad ahead of the match with Wycombe, Karanka told the Birmingham Mail: "Everybody is fit. Just Jake (Clarke-Salter) and (Adam) Clayton (are out), everybody else is ready to play.”

Having been forced to make five changes from the side that faced Huddersfield to the one that went up against Preston at the weekend, it seems Karanka is delighted to now be faced by something of a selection headache, with only Clarke-Salter and Clayton unavailable.

Discussing his options for the Wycombe game, the Spaniard added: “Everybody is good, everybody is ready for the game tomorrow after the game on Saturday and I think this is the best thing.

“We changed five or six players for the game on Saturday and all of them were really good, and now I have a big problem, but I love to have that problem.”

As a result of this update, Jon Toral - who has missed the Blues last five games through injury - now looks to be in contention to make his return to action against the Chairboys.

Having recorded 2-1 wins over both Huddersfield and Preston in their last two games, Birmingham go into the match 12th in the Championship, with 13 points from nine league games so far.

 

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The Verdict

While you have to feel for Clarke-Salter and Clayton, this does look to on the whole be a generally positive update from Karanka.

Having been forced to rotate his squad recently, the fact he does not need to do that as much will be a relief, as they could possibly benefit from an element of stability here.

On the flip side to that, it could also give him the opportunity to rotate, if he feels some of his players need a break after a busy schedule, particularly with another game at home to Bournemouth to come in just a few days time on Saturday.