Swans will provide tough test in pre-season friendly

Birmingham City announced their home pre-season friendly earlier today as they revealed that Paul Clement`s Swansea City side will visit St. Andrew`s on July 29.

Although it may not seem the most thrilling of fixtures, The Swans will give Blues a very stern test before they begin their 2017/18 Championship campaign.

Last year, Blues prepared for the season by hosting Dutch side Roda JC but I do think that it’ll be more beneficial to us playing an English Premier League side this time around.

Of course, Blues fans would love their pre-season schedule to be a little more exciting but we’ve got to remember that the games are in place as preparation for the season and Harry Redknapp needs his side to be as ready as they can be.

Swansea will come to St. Andrew’s as a unit that will be organised, full of quality and it will be great if the likes of Fernando Llorente, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Tom Carroll all play some part.

It’s important that Blues test themselves against some of the best in the country and there’s no doubting that a Premier League opponent is just that.

By the time this game comes around, Redknapp will have more of an idea of what system he will go into the season playing so this will be the final chance to implement any further ideas.

Putting those ideas into action against a side like Swansea will definitely be beneficial to the squad and, hopefully, Redknapp gets what he wants to get out of the game.