Birmingham City have been dealt an injury blow ahead of their upcoming Championship clash.

What's the latest?

Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Thursday, Lee Bowyer confirmed that Ivan Sanchez will be out of first team action for around four to six weeks, as the winger has undergone surgery on an injury to his pubis.

As cited by Birmingham's official Twitter channel, the 44-year-old Blues manager said: "Ivan Sanchez has had surgery, he will be out for 4-6 weeks, everyone else is fine. We have no further injuries to report ahead of Friday."

Bowyer will be gutted

While Sanchez has not featured all that much for Birmingham so far this season, most likely a result of his ongoing injury, the Spaniard's absence will nevertheless have left Bowyer gutted.

Last season, the £1.08m-rated winger played an influential role at St Andrew's, scoring two goals, registering seven assists and creating nine big chances over his 40 Championship appearances, as well as taking one shot and making 1.4 key passes per game.

The 28-year-old also put in a shift defensively, averaging 0.7 interceptions, 1.6 tackles and 0.2 clearances and winning 5.1 duels per league fixture.

These returns saw the £17.5k-per-week forward earn a highly impressive seasonal SofaScore match rating of 7.05, ranking him as Birmingham's second-best performer in the league.

As such, the loss of Sanchez for the club's upcoming clash with Derby County is sure to come as a big blow to Bowyer.

However, with the manager also confirming that he has no new injuries to speak of, at least the former Charlton boss will have a number of options to choose from to replace the stricken Spaniard, with the Blues undoubtedly hoping they can continue their fine early season form against the Rams.

In other news: Bowyer drops Birmingham transfer claim which will be music to the ears of Blues fans