Birmingham City will be without five senior players for their weekend trip to Hull City, boss Lee Bowyer has revealed.

Blues had been on a good run of form leading up to the international break, but they fell to a 2-1 defeat against Reading last time out, with Bowyer forced to make several changes due to the injury situation at the club.

It had been hoped the two-week break would see a few important players return from the treatment table, but, aside from Dion Sanderson, who is 'in contention', that hasn't appeared to be the case.

That's after reporter Richard Wilford explained how Bowyer had confirmed today that Jordan Graham, Maxime Colin, Kristian Pedersen, George Friend and Ivan Sanchez will all be absent for the trip to Hull.

This will give the boss a headache when it comes to his defence, as youngsters Mitchell Roberts and Marcel Oakley were handed surprising starts in the back five last time out against the Royals.

However, Sanderson is sure to come into the XI if he is available.

The verdict

This is not good news for Birmingham at all because Bowyer's squad wasn't the biggest anyway, so any injuries are really felt.

The issues this weekend are going to be at right wing-back and in defence, and it will be interesting to see if Bowyer keeps faith with the youngsters, who generally did well last time out in fairness.

All connected to Blues will see the Hull game as a great chance to pick up three points but this injury update has made things a bit tougher for the team.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.