Tomoki Iwata's return forces Chris Davies into brutal decision as Birmingham City XI predicted
The return of Tomoki Iwata provides Birmingham City with a significant boost – but it gives manager Chris Davies an almighty selection headache.
Davies won’t be debating whether Iwata starts, if the Japanese midfielder is fully fit then that is a given. But who does Davies leave out? Marc Leonard and Taylor Gardner-Hickman have filled in exceptionally well in the absence of Iwata and Paik Seung-ho.
Leonard might have the edge based on the fact that he is more lightly raced than Gardner-Hickman who has started all six of Blues’ games this month and finished four of them.
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Working in Gardner-Hickman’s favour is his remarkable versatility. For instance, Davies could even replace Alfie May with Iwata and place Gardner-Hickman out wide, thus leaving Jay Stansfield to reclaim the central striking position.
There isn’t much debate to be had at the back where Ryan Allsop was given superb protection by Christoph Klarer and Ben Davies at Wrexham on Thursday. In-form Ethan Laird is finally making the right-back spot his own and Alex Cochrane is a shoo-in at left-back.
In front of Iwata and his plus one is likely to be Lyndon Dykes, Stansfield and their plus one. Keshi Anderson’s form prior to his injury made him a certainty on the right and his impact off the bench at Wrexham has given him a chance of starting.
“How quickly he got up to the speed of the game was pretty impressive for a player coming back from injury,” Davies commented. Scott Wright is at risk of losing his place in the XI.
Unless Davies does something out of the ordinary you would expect May to continue up front. The striker wasn’t entirely effective at Wrexham but he netted the winner against Huddersfield in October and has the added motivation of coming up against his former manager Michael Duff.
Our predicted XI
(4-2-3-1): Allsop; Laird, Klarer, Davies, Cochrane; Leonard, Iwata; Anderson, Dykes, Stansfield; May
