Coventry City predicted XI v Bristol City with four decisions awaiting Frank Lampard
Coventry City welcome Bristol City to the CBS Arena on Saturday afternoon hoping to return to winning ways after a mini-run of three matches in the Championship without a victory. The Sky Blues breezed past Plymouth on Boxing Day, but since they've been held by Millwall and Cardiff and then denied dramatically at Norwich City.
Since, though, there has been the shot in the arm of FA Cup progress, claimed at the expense of Sheffield Wednesday on penalties last weekend, but the focus returns solely on the Championship, and the first of the latest three-game week. City are unbeaten in their previous two outings against the Robins this term, with both league and cup meetings coming at the beginning of the season.
As ever, there are a few decisions for Frank Lampard to make. He isn't blessed with the depth of squad he might've had at this stage, with crucial trio Ben Sheaf, Haji Wright and Ephron Mason-Clark all unavailable for the foreseeable future because of various injuries, but still some players are knocking at the door in their bids to be recalled to the starting XI.
READ MORE: Coventry City hit with fine for half-time melee against Sheffield United
READ MORE: Frank Lampard outlines Coventry City transfer stance after Brandon Thomas-Asante links
Joel Latibeaudiere
With Lampard operating with a back three currently, and there being four genuine senior options at the back, one player is currently missing out at the moment. While Bobby Thomas has been a regular, the selection otherwise recently has been relatively fluid - in the cup, it was Joel Latibeaudiere who missed out to Thomas, Liam Kitching - who scored - and Luis Binks. There's a decision to be made over whether Latibeaudiere is recalled, and if so, for who?
Striker call
The two summer signings have been challenged to improve their respective outputs by Lampard, along with fellow centre forward Ellis Simms. Between them, they haven't contributed enough goals since Lampard's appointment.
Thomas-Asante, who has been the subject of much speculation this week, started alongside Bassette against Norwich but Lampard could opt to pair one with Simms here. Bassette came off the bench against Sheffield Wednesday to plunder the winning penalty, but neither player have been able to find the net with any sort of consistency this season.
Midfield
Josh Eccles? Victor Torp? Jamie Allen? It's likely to be two of the three for tomorrow. Allen impressed with the armband in the absence of injured Sheaf and has forced himself right into the reckoning for an extended run in the side, having not long ago returned from injury.
Tatsuhiro Sakamoto
The winger's end product, by comparison, has been improved since November. After firing blanks in the opening months of the season, since November he has scored three times and produced three more assists - including recent goals in the draw with Cardiff and win over Plymouth.
It'll depend if Lampard is looking to proceed with a 3-5-2 or a 3-4-3, with Sakamoto able to play on the right hand side of a front trio. He came off the bench in the cup last weekend but was omitted in the starting XI at Norwich - for the first time in Lampard's tenure - and remained an unused substitute at Carrow Road that day.
CoventryLive predicted XI: Dovin; Van Ewijk, Thomas, Kitching, Binks, Bidwell; Eccles, Allen, Rudoni; Thomas-Asante, Simms