Pep knows score with his strikers

PEP Clotet has backed Blues’ striking double act to do the business – as long as they get the right service.

Blues went into their first home game of the season against Bristol City on Saturday with only two senior attackers.

Alvaro Gimenez joined Lukas Jutkiewicz, who scored in the 1-1 draw at St Andrew’s. He was recruited from Almeria last week, having scored 20 goals for the Spanish Segunda side last season.

Blues pushed to bring in another frontman before the deadline but were met with frustration, leaving them with only Jutkiewicz and Gimenez after Isaac Vassell completed a late move to Cardiff.

He followed Che Adams out after last season’s top scorer moved to Southampton and, asked if he has enough firepower at his disposal, Clotet said: “You’re never really sure until the games come. It was difficult to know in advance that Che was going to do what he did.

“What I think is important is to make sure we give the strikers enough chances to score. Jukey is an identified target, we know exactly how he is and how to work tactically to maximise the number of chances he can have.

“Everyone who has seen Jukey play knows what he is very strong at. We need to maximise the inside play so that we can have more options from the back.

“In the end, when we have the ball we must try to create as many chances as possible. Number of goals? We’ll see at the end who scores what.”

Clotet is happy with his squad and said: “The club has worked very hard for the last season, despite being under an embargo, to identify targets to help us. The club was prepared for positions we needed to fill.

“The transfer window has landed us options as a squad, to make us more competitive, to have more flexibility and a bit more dynamism. In general, I’m happy with the team.”