Cardiff City are the visitors to St.Andrews this evening (18th December) and Blues are set to face yet another tough Sky Bet Championship side.
Russell Slade’s side are currently three points and a place above Gary Rowett’s men and a win for Blues could see them leapfrog their opponents, but only if they win by two or more goals.
The last time these two sides met in B9, it was a goalless draw and if I am being honest, that wouldn’t be a bad result for Blues, but one that many fans will be hoping to avoid.
Kenwyne Jones has hit form recently for the Bluebirds and he is somebody who Blues will have to look out for. Jones is most likely to cause Jonathan Spector quite a few problems in the air with the American lacking aerial presence.
Having looked at the stats for both sets of players, I believe I have identified the best possible five-a-side team with a mixture of Blues and Cardiff players.
GK: Tomasz Kuszczak.
Recently the former Manchester United ‘keeper has been in fantastic form for Rowett’s side.
Keeping a clean sheet away at high flying Middlesbrough on Saturday and pulling off some impressive saves on Tuesday night against Preston North End, Kuszczak was a better option for this team ahead of David Marshall.
Although Marshall is a fantastic shot stopper, Kuszczak just seems to be in slightly better form at the moment.
DF: Neal Eardley.
After the defeat against Huddersfield I slated Eardley for not taking his chance at right back, but since then he has gone on to prove me wrong!
Two very strong performances against Boro and the Lilywhites have put him right ahead of Paul Caddis in the full back spot and I think Caddis will now have to wait very patiently until he gets another chance, but who knows when that will be!
MF: Stephen Gleeson and Anthony Pilkington.
Gleeson has been a rock for Blues so far this season and some of his recent performances have been out of this world.
On Tuesday night at Deepdale, some of the passes that he was making were quite sublime, especially the dinked ball to Demarai Gray in the first half.
The classy midfielder scored earlier in the season when Blues were playing in front of the Sky cameras and I think he might be in for another worldie this evening.
Pilkington is somebody who I have kept a close eye this season as he is a player who likes to entertain the fans.
He currently has three goals in the league this season, two of which have come in the last three games and as an attacking midfielder, I think Blues really need to be wary of him.
Should Cardiff aim to close us down early and score the first goal, I think Pilkington will play a massive part in the later stages of the game if spaces open up in the Blues defence.
ST: Kenwyne Jones.
As I have previously mentioned, Jones is someone who I think will cause Blues a lot of problems. I presume that Rowett has done his homework on the former Stoke City striker and knows that he can play to any style of football.
The Trinidad and Tobago forward has found the back of the net in two of his last six games, scoring three times, and I wouldn’t put it past him scoring against Blues.
Birmingham City duo Michael Morrison and the earlier mentioned Spector could both have their hands full with the big striker, especially when it comes to challenging for balls in the air.
Blues fans, what do you make of this weeks five-a-side team? Who do you think is the strongest player in the squad? Who would be in your team? Let us know in the comment section down below!
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