James Tarkowski banned for Brentford as Lee Carsley takes charge for first time
Lee Carsley will take charge of Brentford for the first time when they welcome Birmingham to Griffin Park for their Sky Bet Championship clash.
Former Everton midfielder Carsley replaced Marinus Dijkhuizen on Monday after the Dutchman was relieved of his duties after just nine games in charge.
Defender James Tarkowski is suspended after his sending off in the 2-1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday while Carsley, who was working as development coach at Brentford, could be forced to look towards some of the young players he is aware of due to the length of the injury list.
Akaki Gogia (thigh), Philipp Hofmann (abdominal) and Maxime Colin (knee) are absent, so too are Sam Saunders (calf) and Lewis Macleod (hamstring). Summer signings Josh McEachran (foot) and Andreas Bjelland (knee) remain long-term absentees, as do Jota (ankle) and Scott Hogan (knee).
Clayton Donaldson and Andrew Shinnie are doubts for Birmingham.
The pair are rated as 50-50 by boss Gary Rowett with Donaldson suffering a hip problem - which could stop his return to his former club - and Shinnie battling a tight hamstring.
Rowett said: "We have a couple who will be late fitness tests, Clayton took a bang to his hip and Andrew felt his hamstring. We'll give them as long as we can, certainly today and Tuesday to see if they can be fit and available."
Neal Eardley is definitely out of the game which has been rearranged from August after Brentford asked for the match to be postponed so they could relay their pitch.
Source: PAR
