Chris Powell said at his weekly press conference on Thursday, that he will wait until the last minute before deciding whether Yann Kermorgant and Richard Wood are fit enough to be involved in the game at Birmingham.

Kermorgant has been struggling with an ankle injury since the run up to the Watford game in mid September and had to be substituted at Vicarage Road, after taking several knocks to the afflicted ankle. The striker was unwisely rushed back into action for the final eight minutes of the game at Burnley two weeks later. Kermormant aggravated the injury and did not play again until coming on as a substitute at Blackburn.

The Frenchman started against Wigan on Sunday but again aggravated the injury when he landed awkwardly early on. He carried on – perhaps unwisely – for another half-hour and Powell said after the match that the club would give the injury 48 hours for the swelling to go down.

Clearly Kermorgant’s ankle is far from right and it would be foolish to press him into action at St Andrews.

Wood picked up a knock in the same game and will also struggle to make the Birmingham match, certainly the left-footed centre-back will not be 100% fit.

The concerns over Kermorgant’s ankle may have influenced the decision to bring Basile Camerling back to the club. Camerling played in the friendly against Gillingham on Wednesday but will not be offered a deal by Charlton.

That leaves Powell with just Simon Church and Marvin Sordell as fit, senior strikers. Similarly, with Leon Cort sidelined for a few more weeks, Dorian Dervite and Michael Morrison are the only fit, senior central defenders at Powell’s disposal.

As we mentioned last weekend, the injuries to Kermorgant and Wood may see Powell enter the emergency loan market. The manager will be hoping to have two new faces available to him for the trip St Andrews.