![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/0_JS388588678.jpg\")
Alex Cochrane of Birmingham City<\/p>\nBirmingham City are winless in six matches and their squad is creaking under the strain of injuries, suspension and international call-upsAlex Cochrane of Birmingham City<\/p>\n
Birmingham City are optimistic Alex Cochrane<\/a> will be back to face Watford at Vicarage Road on New Year\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n The left back has missed the last three matches with an ankle injury, forcing centre back Eiran Cashin<\/a> into a makeshift role against Derby County in Monday night\u2019s 1-1 draw with Southampton.<\/a><\/p>\n The Brighton loan player has done well but Cochrane has been one of Blues’ <\/a>more consistent players since he joined the club in 2024 and would offer more going forward against an in-form Hornets team.<\/p>\n However, winger Demarai Gray has been ruled out by assistant coach Ben Petty.<\/p>\n \u201cAlex is improving day by day,\u201d Petty said. \u201cIt’s taken a little bit longer to settle than we would have hoped, his ankle, but, we’re hopeful that he can be involved on Thursday if we can get him training tomorrow and Wednesday and he comes through it unscathed.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Demarai will miss the game on Thursday. He’s picked up a calf injury, so we have to handle him with care. I know he’ll probably miss the next two games for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n Christoph Klarer will serve the second game of a three-match ban after being sent off on Boxing Day, while Tommy Doyle completes his three-game suspension and while he won\u2019t be available for Watford, he will be back for Coventry City on Sunday.<\/p>\n Bright Osayi-Samuel will be away at the Africa Cup of Nations for at least another week after Nigeria reached the knockout stages.<\/p>\n What changes should be made for Watford? Let us know<\/a><\/p>\n The BirminghamLive<\/a> football desk strive to deliver news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Birmingham City<\/a> content.<\/p>\n Our dedicated reporters Alex Dicken and Brian Dick – you can follow both Alex<\/a> and Brian<\/a> on X – follow Blues around the country and offer comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything in between.<\/p>\n You can keep on top of the very latest updates when they occur with our free daily Blues newsletter,<\/a> giving you a round-up of the key stories in your email inbox.<\/p>\n If you want your favourite content straight to your phone, then sign up to get breaking updates about the biggest stories and insight from in and around the club on WhatsApp.<\/a><\/p>\n You can also get the latest Blues stories on your phone via the BirminghamLive app – which you can personalise – either on Apple<\/a> or Android.<\/a><\/p>\n And our weekly Birmingham<\/a> City podcast, Keep Right On, is also available to watch and listen on all major streaming services. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel<\/a>, or access the podcast on Spotify<\/a> and Apple.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birmingham City are winless in six matches and their squad is creaking under the strain of injuries, suspension…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[133068,133069,11538,10857,218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-343132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-alex-cochrane","tag-ben-petty","tag-birmingham-city-fc","tag-demarai-gray","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}