The big decisions for Michael Appleton to make ahead of Blackpool’s return against Birmingham City

After a month off, Michael Appleton’s side resume their campaign when they host Birmingham City at Bloomfield Road on Saturday.

The Seasiders will be looking to get back to winning ways after suffering four straight defeats before the World Cup break, a run which saw them slide into the bottom three.

The men in tangerine will hope to have put the break to good use ahead of a hectic December which sees them play four times in 19 days over the traditional festive period.

But first, we take a look at the big calls Appleton has to make leading up to Saturday’s game…

Maxwell or Grimshaw?

This is the big debate that just won’t go away. The number one jersey is currently Chris Maxwell’s to lose, but there have been plenty of calls from supporters for Grimshaw to reclaim his spot in the side. Grimshaw recently played all 90 minutes of Blackpool’s behind-closed-doors friendly draw against St Mirren, which ended 0-0, but The Gazette understands Maxwell was unavailable, which is why Stuart Moore was the sub goalkeeper on the day. It will be fascinating to see if the month-long break will have changed Appleton’s mind – he’s certainly had plenty of time to stew over his decision if it is something he’s considering. But after the Wigan game before the World Cup break, Blackpool’s head coach launched a fierce defence of Maxwell, stating he wasn’t to blame for the defeat at the DW Stadium, which to me suggests he’ll be the one to line up in goal. But there’s no doubt this is the big call that fans will be looking out for when the teams are named at 2pm on Saturday.

Who replaces Big Marv?

The Seasiders will be without their skipper for Saturday as well as the trip to Cardiff City the following week. It comes after the 27-year-old was shown his second red card of the season during Blackpool’s last game before the World Cup break, the 2-1 defeat to Wigan Athletic. As a result, the centre-back will now serve a two-match suspension. Rhys Williams and James Husband have partnered one another in the centre of defence in the behind-closed-doors games Blackpool have recently played, but there’s also Jordan Thorniley to factor in as well. He missed the Wigan game through concussion and didn’t travel with the group for their warm weather training camp in Spain, but it’s still to be seen if he will be available. If he is, does he slot into the back four alongside Williams?

Which of the injured players will return?

There’s no doubt the month-long break came at a good time for the Seasiders. They were depleted by injuries before the break and were seriously flagging, resorting to playing Kenny Dougall at centre half such was their shortage of options. But since then, James Husband, Liam Bridcutt, Lewis Fiorini and Jake Beesley have all returned to training and are hoping to be in contention against Birmingham. How many of the four will start? Husband is a likely one, while Bridcutt and Fiorini could be in the mix. But given Fiorini and Beesley have been out for so long, all season in the latter’s case, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see them start on the bench to begin with. As for the other injured players, Jordan Gabriel, Kevin Stewart and Keshi Anderson are expected to remain sidelined until the New Year.