Regis Le Bris gave two bits of important injury news in his press conference at the end of the week – firstly Granit Xhaka will be back in contention, and Reinildo will miss the next few weeks. Xhaka’s return is of course hugely important, and Reinildo will be a big miss. Dennis Cirkin is the obvious replacement at fullback, but is it that straightforward? And does Xhaka come straight back into the team? Here’s how I think we’ll line up today.
Goalkeeper: Robin Roefs
Another clean sheet last week for Roefs, and he’ll be
hoping for a quiet afternoon at the Stadium today.
Defence: Nordi Mukiele, Dan Ballard, Omar Alderete, Dennis Cirkin
Dan Ballard and Omar Alderete sat out last week’s game, but both are fit as far as we know, so they should come back into the team, while Mukiele will play when fit, so he’ll be on the right. At left back, Reinildo is injured so the question will be whether Cirkin comes in or we play Hume there. Much of that decision will be based on whether Le Bris wants Hume in that hybrid role or whether we want to go a bit more attacking. Personally, I’d rather play Cirkin at left back and let Hume sit this one out, so I’m going with that approach, however it wouldn’t be a surprise if he played Hume out of position over there. However, if we want Cirkin to sign a new deal, he’s got to play when Reinildo’s out.
Midfield: Granit Xhaka, Habib Diarra, Enzo Le Fee, Noah Sadiki, Chemsdine Talbi
In midfield, I think we’ll go with a slightly different shape, with Xhaka’s return meaning Diarra, Sadiki and Le Fee have a bit more freedom to explore spaces. Diarra will likely operate to the right, but it’ll be set up in a way to enable Mukiele to exploit that flank a bit too. On the left it’s a choice between Talbi and Angulo, and I think we’ll see Talbi start out there to give the full back a bit of protection.
Forward: Brian Brobbey
Brobbey will lead the line and the likes of Diarra, Le Fee and Talbi will look to get close to him and play off him – he’s such a good hold up player, we need those through to create the space and make the runs to get the best out of him.
