Chieo Ogbene makes his first start since October last year and Leif Davis is fit to start at left-back as the Blues get their season under way at Birmingham City (Sky Sports, KO 8pm), but neither Omari Hutchinson nor Jaden Philogene are in the squad.
Ogbene, who ruptured achilles ligaments in last season’s away game at Brentford, looks set to start on the right of the three behind George Hirst with Jack Clarke on the left and Sammie Szmodics in the middle.
Azor Matusiwa makes his debut in midfield alongside Jack Taylor ahead of a back four of, from the right, Ben Johnson, new skipper Dara O’Shea, Jacob Greaves and Davis. Alex Palmer is in goal.
Philogene is absent having picked up an ankle injury at Auxerre last week, while Hutchinson, the subject of transfer speculation, misses out with a throat infection.
New signings Ashley Young and Cedric Kipre are on the bench, as is Nathan Broadhead, a Wrexham target, and young midfielder Fin Barbrook, in a matchday squad for a competitive game for the first time.
Birmingham City: Allsop, Osayi-Samuel, Neumann, Klarer (c), Cochrane, Tomoki, Paik, Gray, Stansfield, Anderson, Furuhashi. Subs: Beadle, Laird, Bielik, Doyle, Leonard, Dykes, Willumsson, Gardner-Hickman, Cashin.
Town: Palmer; Johnson, O’Shea (c), Greaves, Davis, Matusiwa, Taylor; Ogbene, Szmodics, Clarke, Hirst. Subs: Walton, Kipre, Woolfenden, Chaplin, Young, Al-Hamadi, Humphreys, Broadhead, Barbrook. Referee: Andrew Kitchen (Durham).