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da pinup bet： Birmingham City ace Jacques Maghoma is back in training ahead of Sunday’s Second City derby with Aston Villa, as the Birmingham Mail pick up on his Instagram stories.
What’s the news?
The Blues had been agonising over the international break, not knowing if the 31-year-old would be able to return to first team action in time for the Birmingham derby.
The attacking midfielder had featured in each of the opening 14 Championship games, but was forced off just before the break against Reading with an ankle injury.
Garry Monk’s men were able to soldier on to win 2-1, thanks to goals by Gary Gardner and Lukas Jutkiewicz, but could not call on the wide-man against Sheffield Wednesday, Derby County or Hull City.
While no official word has come out of the club, Maghoma took to social media on Tuesday and shared a post on his Instagram story – simply captioned: “Let’s go out and run”.
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Big boost for Birmingham
With Maghoma appearing to have confirmed his return for the club, Monk will have peace of mind plotting who he should call on for the left wing slot against Aston Villa.
The city rivals go into the affair tied on 24 points, but the claret and blue outfit are ahead thanks to a marginally superior goal difference – Dean Smith’s side have conceded three more than Monk’s, but scored four more too.
Having the 19-cap DR Congo international to call on again will allow the Blue’s 39-year-old head coach to switch Connor Mahoney over to the right-hand side, having stood in for Maghoma while he watched on from the stands.
Why move Mahoney over?
Mahoney may be needed on the right wing for the Second City derby as first-team regular Jota also spent the international break in the physio’s room.
The 27-year-old Spaniard had complained he was suffering from a hip injury against Hull last time out, forcing Monk to replace his star winger after 24 minutes.
Up until that point, the 5 foot 11 right-sided midfielder had featured for the full 90 on 11 occasions – never coming off prior to the 75th minute.
Starting in each Championship game saw Jota tally a key pass every 39.4 minutes and a dribble every 27.3.
Have your say on Maghoma and Jota’s involvement in our poll below…