Key player Vs. Brentford

Blues kick off 2017 by welcoming Dean Smith`s Brentford side to St Andrews with the team looking to secure that first win under new boss Gianfranco Zola.

The team showed great character to come from two goals behind to earn a 2-2 draw away at Barnsley on New Years Eve but it’s crucial that we get back to winning ways tomorrow.

If we are to get our first victory under Zola, then I think that Jacques Maghoma will be key to it.

He scored his first goal in a couple of months at Oakwell and put in a performance that we haven’t seen from him in a while.

When he is at full throttle, Maghoma can be a very difficult player to stop and, if we feed him plenty of the ball against The Bees, then he could really cause them problems.

His pace, power and athleticism is something that we won’t have for at least three games in January due to him going off to the African Cup of Nations so we need him to give us a top performance before he heads off in a couple of weeks.

Brentford are having a pretty mediocre season by their previous standards so, if we get in their faces early on, then that could unsettle them and give us the lift we need.

Maghoma can be a very up and down player in terms of performances but, when he’s on his game, I think he can be vital to us and another strong performance from him tomorrow could well help us in getting the three points.