Birmingham City urged to drop Gardner-Hickman and start 26-year-old v Charlton Athletic.

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

With five points ahead of Wrexham in second place, the Blues have already won five of their first eight league games this season.

This weekend, they take on Charlton Athletic with the aim of securing their eighth consecutive league victory under Chris Davies’ team, who now has 22 points out of a possible 24.

The Midlands team will head to the Valley to play Nathan Jones’ squad on Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Addicks, who have dropped their last three games, will be in bad condition going into this one. league fixtures in the build up to this meeting.

Alfons Sampsted change claim

FLW’s Birmingham fan pundit, when asked what changes he would want to see in the starting lineup for this weekend, advised starting Alfons Sampsted.

Although he thinks Taylor Gardner-Hickman has done well playing right-back when out of position, he would want to see the 26-year-old join the starting lineup following his outstanding performance against Huddersfield Town in the second half of the game last week.

“I believe that Sampsted replacing Gardner-Hickman at right-back would be the one change I would make,” Gibson said to Football League World.

“The biggest reason, in my opinion, is that Gardner-Hickman has performed admirably. He was signed as a central midfielder, but it’s clear that this is not his natural position—he played there for West Brom previously.

“He received the shirt after [Ethan] Laird was hurt and Sampsted was ill and couldn’t work, and he’s done a great job with it.”

“I believe the reason for his substitution was that Sampsted entered the game with Gardner-Hickman on a yellow card at halftime, and I believe he was our best player during the second half.”

“Excellent all-around performance, really good moving forward, really good defensively, and he clearly didn’t set up the goal but was a major contribution to it.

“So on Saturday, that’s the only adjustment I would make.”

Birmingham’s promotion ambition

During their current eight-game winning streak, Birmingham has defeated teams like Huddersfield, Peterborough United, Rotherham United, and Wrexham.

Following the club’s relegation to League One, Davies was named manager in the summer, and he has been a huge success thus far.

With just eight games played, the lead at the top of the table is now five points, with one game left to play against Wrexham in second place.

If they defeat Charlton, they could possibly increase their lead to eight points if other outcomes go their way.

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.

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