Birmingham City manager Pep Clotet has suggested that Lukas Jutkiewicz and Alvaro Gimenez might be too similar to play together up front.

Clotet tried the duo together in attack regularly during the opening months of the season, but he has opted to alternate between the pair more in recent weeks, although they were paired in attack against Millwall last time out.

Blues have been struggling in the final third so far this campaign, having only scored 19 goals in their opening 19 Championship matches, which is the third lowest tally in the division so far this term - and between them Jutkiewicz and Gimenez have registered just seven league goals.

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Speaking to the Birminghal Live ahead of the trip to Reading on Saturday, Clotet outlined why he has concerns about the two strikers playing together.

"Juke is a player that has a lot of experience in the league. He has a proven track record and we know what we are going to get from Juke - what he’s good at and what he can do. And we know him very well as a person as well.

"With Alvaro he has a bit of a handicap because he comes from a different league and a different country. It always takes more time to adapt to it. In some areas they are similar players and sometimes it is difficult to pair because they are very similar players."

The Verdict

Jutkiewicz and Gimenez are very similar in terms of their style of play, with neither really blessed for pace and wanting to run in behind to stretch opponents.

Blues have only managed three goals in their last four Championship matches, and Clotet really needs to find a way of getting more productivity from his attacking players, and that could mean that he has to place one of the two strikers on the bench and find a different sort of player to partner the starting forward.

Having both players in the squad would then provide Clotet the option to rotate and keep them both fresh, while it also perhaps give Gimenez a breather as he looks to fully adapt to life in the Championship.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.