Birmingham City have a big opportunity to show the Championship that they do belong in the promotion picture when Middlesbrough travels to St. Andrew’s on Monday.
Heading into this second-tier showdown in the West Midlands, the Blues will feel bruised in their bid to pull off back-to-back promotions, having crashed to a dire 3-0 defeat to Millwall last time out.
Still, the agony of that defeat on the road could be pushed firmly to one side if Chris Davies’ men can get the better of another automatic promotion candidate in Middlesbrough, with a victory putting them only five points outside the playoff positions.
Of course, a second successive defeat might also put out the flame of their promotion chances once and for all, with Davies perhaps ready to drop first-team stalwart Jay Stansfield for such a crucial tie, considering his underperformances as of late.
Why Davies could now drop Stansfield
On his day, Stansfield is one of the first names on his manager’s team sheet, with the ex-Fulham attacker a real livewire when he’s at the peak of his powers.
Indeed, last season, the Blues’ main man up top smashed home a hugely impressive 19 League One goals, which were vital to Birmingham’s title charge.
Following on from such a sublime campaign, Stansfield now boasts ten strikes in all competitions this season.
Yet, that doesn’t tell the full picture of his dwindling form in the attacking ranks, as the hot-and-cold number 28 has only managed to find the back of the net once across his last 17 Championship encounters.
|
Stansfield 2026 stats |
|
|---|---|
|
Stat |
Stansfield |
|
Games played |
10 |
|
Minutes played |
713 mins |
|
Goals scored |
1 |
|
Assists |
2 |
As a result, it has fallen to the new breed of Birmingham stars in the form of Carlos Vicente and August Priske to shine, while Stansfield continues to wobble.
Up against Millwall, in particular, the 23-year-old looked way off the pace, with only five accurate passes completed, and one shot registered, before Davies hauled him off the Den pitch with ten minutes left of the one-sided game.
Could it be time for Davies to consider what was once deemed unthinkable and drop the hot-and-cold Englishman?
If he does go ahead with a shock alteration, he might well have a short-term replacement up his sleeve.
Birmingham City’s Stansfield replacement
Kyogo Furuhashi is unlikely to push back into his manager’s first team plans, even with Stansfield suffering from a drop in form, as the ex-Celtic forward looks to move away from St. Andrew’s in the near future.
£35,000-a-week attacker now ready to leave Birmingham; he could seal instant shock move
A potential blow for the Blues.
It could well be time for Marvin Ducksch, on the other hand, to stake a claim for a more consistent starting spot in Stansfield’s place, with the German sticking out as a key performer in the 2-1 victory over Norwich City earlier in the month, when bagging the Blues’ quickfire second of the game.
Ducksch now finds himself on a tally of eight goals for the season in the Championship from just 19 league starts, with a further strike falling into his back pocket against Oxford United earlier in the month, to display his red-hot form even further.
Stansfield just doesn’t have this same potency in front of goal on his side at the moment, with the ex-Werder Bremen man very clearly a clinical finisher, who also has an eye for an assist, as displayed by his 34 goals and 25 assists collected across his final three Bundesliga campaigns for his former employers.
Ducksch was even labelled as an “extraordinary” forward during his stint with Bremen by old teammate Mitchell Weiser due to his ability to be so creative, yet so lethal.
Gifting him more game time, while utilising Stansfield as a dangerous impact sub, might well be the way forward at the moment, with the struggling number 28 dropping out of the side for the Boro clash, also potentially catching Kim Hellberg’s promotion-chasers off-guard.
Davies has come out to defend his £15m star-man by stating that he always gives “110%” to the cause when he’s on the pitch.
Still, the Blues head coach shouldn’t be so stubborn in feeling he has to select Stansfield week in week out; a refresh of his starting XI could be perhaps what is needed, instead, to ensure their promotion bid doesn’t fall to the wayside.
Forget Stansfield: Birmingham City star already looks Premier League ready
This Birmingham City star has the potential to become a Premier League level player.
