Birmingham City are currently going through an up and down period of form in the Championship, with the St Andrew's side tasting two defeats and two victories in their last four games against Swansea City, Nottingham Forest, Stoke City and Barnsley respectively. 

The Blues now head into a tough fixture away at high flying Charlton Athletic with two players potentially coming back into the fold after respective spells on the sidelines due to injury.

Jacques Maghoma and Kerim Mrabti are said to be in contention to get some game time against the Addicks this weekend with Blues boss Pep Clotet, expressing his pleasure at having more options available to him in the club's upcoming matches.

Maghoma in particular will provide some much needed flair to proceedings with the DR Congo international being one of the club's key performers last term as the 31-year-old registered six goals and five assists, whilst also posting a pass success rate of 75.6% , which is pretty impressive for a player that plays predominantly on the wing.

In addition to Maghoma, Mrabti will also provide another option going forward, with the Blues so far having mainly operated with five at the back this season, thus alleviating the use of wingers in their starting 11.

The return of these two attacking players will help to provide Clotet with the opportunity to play with a variety of different formations such as 4-4-1-1 and 4-4-2, which he has used on only a handful of occasions this season, due to ongoing injury issues with several of his forward players, such as Jefferson Montero.

Once Clotet establishes a consistent starting line up, there should be a stronger cohesion amongst the squad, with a study proving that players improve their on-pitch relationships by playing more regularly together.

The Verdict

The return of both Maghoma and Mrabti will provide a big boost for Clotet as he attempts to establish a consistent team selection that has been found wanting for much of the season so far, as seen by the amount of different formations that have been used by the Spaniard so far this season.

Lastly, the manager will be pleased to have two players available that can be a threat on the counter-attack this weekend, with Charlton Athletic likely to enjoy the majority of possession in the game on Saturday, particularly with them enjoying a 4.3 percent higher possession average this season than Birmingham so far.