Birmingham City Urged To Start 26-Year-Old Ahead Of Gardner-Hickman V Charlton

Birmingham City’s pursuit of a return back to the Championship has had a stunning start.

The Blues have won all but one of their opening eight league games so far this season, and they are already five points clear of Wrexham in second.

Chris Davies’ side have 22 points from a possible 24, and will be targeting an eighth league win in a row when they face Charlton Athletic this weekend.

The Midlands outfit will travel to the Valley to take on Nathan Jones’ team in a 3pm kick-off on Saturday.

The Addicks will be going into the game in poor form, having lost their previous three league fixtures in the build up to this meeting.

Alfons Sampsted change claim

When asked what changes he’d like to see in the side this weekend, if any, FLW’s Birmingham fan pundit suggested brining Alfons Sampsted into the starting lineup.

While he believes Taylor Gardner-Hickman has performed well while out of position at right-back, he would like to see the 26-year-old come into the side after his impressive display in the second half against Huddersfield Town midweek.

“I think the one change for me would be Sampsted coming in at right-back for Gardner-Hickman,” Gibbs told Football League World.

“I think the main reason why is that Gardner-Hickman has been great, obviously it’s not his natural position, he played there for West Brom in the past but we signed him as a central midfielder.

“He got the shirt when [Ethan] Laird got injured and Sampsted wasn’t available due to illness, and has done a really solid job with it.

“I think the reason for changing him would be Sampsted came in at half-time with Gardner-Hickman on a yellow card, and I think he was arguably our best player in the second half.

“Really good defensively, really good going forward, obviously didn’t set up the goal but was a key contributor to that goal, and his all-around performance was excellent.

“So that’s the one change I would make Saturday.”

Birmingham’s promotion ambition

Birmingham have earned wins over the likes of Huddersfield, Peterborough United, Rotherham United and Wrexham during this run of eight victories in a row.

Davies was appointed as manager in the summer after the club’s relegation to League One, and he is proving quite the success so far.

The gap at the top of the table is already five points after only eight games, while having played one fewer than second place Wrexham.

A win over Charlton could even see their lead stretch to eight points, if results elsewhere go in their favour.

Sampsted earned chance to start against Charlton

Gardner-Hickman performed well out of position for Birmingham but Sampsted earned a place in the starting lineup.

He likely would’ve been in that position anyway with Laird out but for his own absence due to illness.

That Gardner-Hickman is a solid option in that area, as well as midfield, is something Davies now knows firsthand, which will be very useful information to have for the new manager.

Otherwise, there’s no real need to make any unforced changes given how well the team has been performing so far this season.