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Birmingham City will be without three senior players for today’s Championship clash with Rotherham United.

Having seen their four-match losing streak come to an end and end in a 1-1 draw at Wigan Athletic last time out, the Blues go into the weekend looking for what would be just a third win in 13 games when the Millers visit St Andrew’s. Saturday.

They will do so 18th in the table, one place and one point ahead of City, with the winner taking a big step forward in the race to stay clear of the bottom three.

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However, John Eustace’s side will have to do without Gary Gardner, Troy Deeney and Krystian Bielik, with the top two absent for the long term.

“Gaz, I think it’s still two or three weeks away,” said John Eustace. “I know he is progressing quite well, but unfortunately he still has a few weeks to go. That’s going to be a huge blow for us, a very experienced Championship player and a great player for Birmingham City.

“Troy probably after the international break as well, hopefully, but there’s no real timescale on that.”

Asked if Deeney will play again this season, the head coach said: “I couldn’t tell you, he’s still three or four weeks away, we’ll have to wait and see, he’s going to have to get back into shape and if he pulls a hamstring the hamstring from the way things have gone with other injuries, there’s a chance it could happen again. All I know is he’s progressing very well.”

Krystian Bielik is also injured, having survived being stretchered at Huddersfield, subsequently suffering a calf strain and missing the last three games. Tuesday’s clash with Watford and potentially the trip to QPR on Saturday could also be too early.

“He hasn’t been on the grass yet,” Eustace admitted. “We’ll see. Krys is very close to rejoining, hopefully maybe at the start of the week he’ll be available for selection again.

“We need these experienced players to come back to help the group, but it gives opportunities to others. Young Alfie (Chang) last week in Wigan was magnificent in midfield, he really fought back there, Jordan Graham came in last week and he was fantastic, he did very, very well, I’m very happy for him. He just shows the team.”

One player back in contention is Jobe Bellingham. The 17-year-old hasn’t played since January 2.”

Who should Eustace pick to face Rotherham today? let us know here

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