Two Birmingham City players in pre-season tussle to win over Chris Davies

Birmingham City’s pre-season fixtures get underway next weekend against FC Paderborn 07

There is a battle brewing at Birmingham City to become Chris Davies’ number one. Blues have snapped up two goalkeepers right at the start of the window to transform Maik Taylor’s department.

Ryan Allsop and Bailey Peacock-Farrell have replaced John Ruddy and Neil Etheridge in double-quick time. There is a slight difference in Blues’ new pair of glovesman compared to the duo who’ve departed.

There isn’t a clear first choice. Blues purposely signed two goalkeepers to create a live competition. A tussle between Allsop and Peacock-Farrell will take place in Blues’ pre-season programme.

At 32, Allsop is the more experienced goalkeeper and has spent the past three seasons as a number one in the Championship – with Derby County, Cardiff and Hull where he was part of Liam Rosenior’s side that narrowly missed out on the play-offs last term.

Peacock-Farrell, meanwhile, hasn’t been a Championship number one since the first half of the 2018/19 campaign when he kept goal for Leeds United. Marcelo Bielsa replaced Peacock-Farrell with Kiko Casilla midway through that season.

A move to Burnley yielded little first team minutes for Peacock-Farrell, which is no shame given the goalkeeping options available to the Clarets in recent years. Nick Pope, Joe Hart and Arijanet Muric stood in his way at Turf Moor. Peacock-Farrell did play eight games during Burnley’s Championship title-winning season of 2022/23 under Vincent Kompany, and kept five clean sheets, to ensure Muric’s presence wasn’t missed.

He possesses the higher ceiling given the fact he is still only 27 and has represented Leeds United and Burnley, whereas Allsop has journeyed around the country before returning home this summer. Allsop is exceptional with his feet though and Blues want to play progressive, passing football. If Davies expects his goalkeeper to be busier with his feet than his hands, Allsop could be his man.

“I feel like it’s a big strength of mine, having the ball at my feet and helping the team in terms of build-up and keeping possession,” says Allsop. “Hopefully that buys into what we’re trying to do as a team and gets us going in the right direction.”

Peacock-Farrell isn’t bad with his feet either, but you wouldn’t say it’s an unmissable skill in the way it is with Allsop. We all watched Allsop bait Blues’ press at St Andrew’s last season from inside his own six-yard box.

Explaining his own strengths, Peacock-Farrell said: “I would say I’m well rounded. There’s nothing I feel like I’m lacking in my game and there’s obviously everything I would like to improve on as well. Expect an all rounder.”

We will get ideas as to what Davies is planning once Blues’ pre-season campaign gets underway next weekend. Their shirt numbers might give us an indication too. But we won’t truly know who is the victor between Allsop and Peacock-Farrell until the season begins on August 10.