Confirmed: Birmingham City suffer frustrating player blow ahead of QPR | OneFootball

Chris Davies has confirmed Alex Cochrane "felt something" before being substituted against Southampton on Saturday

Birmingham City face a nervy wait over the fitness of left-back Alex Cochrane ahead of their midweek Championship trip to Queens Park Rangers.

The 25-year-old was replaced by Jack Robinson for the final half an hour at St Mary’s on Saturday in their 3-1 loss to Southampton - which Chris Davies has now confirmed was because of a potential injury.

Potentially losing Cochrane is an unwelcome disruption ahead of another tricky away match against a QPR side who just put three past West Bromwich Albion themselves.

Chris Davies raises Alex Cochrane injury concern ahead of Birmingham City's trip to Queens Park Rangers

Davies has already acknowledged the problem post-match, confirming that the defender had suffered a setback and that his condition will need to be assessed before Birmingham travel to face the R's.

As per Birmingham Live, the head coach admitted Cochrane "felt something so we will have to see how he is," showing the uncertainty around a player who has become a mainstay on the left of his back line.

That doubt opens the door for Robinson, who is understood by the outlet to be at the front of the queue to replace Cochrane if he does not make it, which is probably worrying Bluenoses already.

As seen when he came on against Southampton, the 32-year-old brings a very different profile to Cochrane - and it was his first minutes since October, when he picked up his second red card in four games.

This is something which could be exploited by Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday.

QPR could look to capitalize on Birmingham City injury woes

From an R's perspective, the timing of this potential blow for Birmingham could hardly be better.

Cochrane has made 73 appearances for Blues in all competitions since arriving from Hearts last year, contributing to two goals and seven assists in that time. For a full-back, those numbers speak to his influence in the final third.

When Blues build on the left, he is often the player setting the angle of attack, either by stepping into midfield or by overlapping the winger. The latter happened against Southampton on Saturday for Demarai Gray's goal, albeit it was a fairly simple assist for the left-back.

Robinson is primarily a centre-back, so it's pretty clear he'd struggle to try and replicate what Cochrane does going forward, and defensively he's proven to be a liability this season with the earlier red cards.

The thing with QPR is, is that a lot of their wingers are capable of playing on either flank, and they could all cause Robinson a defensive headache on Tuesday. Most likely to start on the right could be Koki Saito, given he played 77 minutes there against the Baggies on the weekend - but they also have the likes of Karamoko Dembele, Kwame Poku, Paul Smyth and Harvey Vale.

Ultimately, if Cochrane somehow proves his fitness, Davies will surely be desperate to keep his left-back’s minutes managed and avoid any potential long-term damage. But, the uncertainty around his availability has turned what was already a testing midweek trip into an even bigger one.