Birmingham vs Preston North End - Clayton Donaldson may return to Birmingham line-up for clash against Preston

Posted Monday, September 26, 2016 by PA

Birmingham boss Gary Rowett is hopeful he can recall Clayton Donaldson for the Sky Bet Championship match against Preston after the striker missed the weekend's 1-1 draw at QPR.

The four-goal forward sat out with an Achilles injury he suffered against Sheffield Wednesday and Rowett decided not to risk him at Loftus Road.

Robert Tesche (ankle) and Tomasz Kuszczak (thigh) are out for Blues, though, with the pair struggling to overcome their knocks.

On-loan Burnley forward Lukas Jutkiewicz, who scored his second goal in two games on Saturday, could be given a breather as Rowett looks to ease him back into regular football.

Preston boss Simon Grayson has some selection dilemmas after several players forced their way back into first team contention in the last two matches.

After making 10 changes at Bournemouth in the EFL Cup, four of that team - Chris Maxwell, Bailey Wright, Simon Makienok and Greg Cunningham - retained their places against Wigan on Friday night and North End still won the match.

Maxwell, who produced a good display at Bournemouth, displaced Anders Lindegaard and is set to keep the gloves at St Andrew's while the likes of Makienok and Ben Pringle may also start again.

Marnick Vermijl's hamstring strain will probably keep him out again while a similar problem continues to keep Jermaine Beckford on the sidelines.