Birmingham City manager Pep Clotet has suggested that reason behind Kerim Mrabti's lack of recent involvement has been down to the amount of options he has in attack, but that he could be given a chance to impress in the next few weeks.

Mrabti has found himself out of the squad for Birmingham's last five Championship matches, with Clotet selecting the likes of Dan Crowley, Jeremie Bela, Jacques Maghoma and Jefferson Montero ahead of him during the last few weeks, which has seen the Blues pick up one win and one defeat in those five matches.

However, with Crowley suffering an injury during the Blues' 3-2 win against Reading last weekend and Bela also having to come off through injury against Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday, Mrabti could be given the chance to come back into the squad for the meeting with high-flying West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

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Speaking to the Birmingham Mail, Clotet suggested that Mrabti has been training well and is ready to make an impact when called upon, and explained his recent omission from the squad has just been down to the level of competition in his squad, saying: "Kerim is working very well, we used him in a lot of games this season and we evaluated his performance as well.

"At the same time we have a lot of options up front but he is one of them you end up now, today, I am facing a dilemma, what players do we get so we have the energy levels right.

"At the end of the day he is very fresh at the minute and I do think if he does get an opportunity he will try to use it."

The Verdict

Mrabti would have been frustrated over the last few weeks having not been named in any of Birmingham's last five match day squads since being brought off midway through the second half in the Blues' 1-0 defeat against Fulham at St Andrews at the start of last month.

The 25-year-old had enjoyed a run of four successive starts before that, with Clotet pairing him up front with Lukas Jutkiewicz for games against Cardiff City, Luton Town and Blackburn Rovers, as he looked to get more end product out of his side in the final third.

The attacker will now be hoping that he will be given another chance to impress Clotet in the next few matches, and in the absence of Crowley Mrabti will need to show that he has the ability to become a really important member of the side ahead of the second half of the campaign.