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).

Photo: Matchday Images

Lukeybluey added 19:40 - Aug 8 COYB's!
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Perublue added 19:43 - Aug 8 Throat infection … chinny reckon !!
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armchaircritic59 added 19:46 - Aug 8 So that's £40m and a packet of strepsils for Omari now!
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TimmyH added 19:47 - Aug 8 Agree! Perublue. shame it might be a tad too soon for Cajuste to start after only confirming his loan yesterday. All eyes on Taylor to see if he can adapt after his minutes in the Premiership.
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Dissboyitfc added 19:52 - Aug 8 hard one to call, will take a draw!
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SpiritOfJohn added 19:54 - Aug 8 Excited to see what Ogbene can do. COYBs!
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jas0999 added 20:11 - Aug 8 Great interview from KM. squad not where it should be. Agreed. No Delap replacement. Awful. Still, rightly favourites to win the league. Need to hit ground running.
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blueboy1981 added 20:18 - Aug 8 The Championship GRIND has begun - don’t look for finesse, but plenty of fouls and thuggery - not forgetting some questionable refereeing to boot !!
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chepstowblue added 22:05 - Aug 8 I watched the game but didn't see Ogbene. Are you sure he started ?!!
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