Steve Kean will be hoping Blackburn can ease their relegation fears when they come up against Birmingham.
Rovers and Blues lock horns in relegation battle
Steve Kean will be hoping Blackburn can ease their relegation fears when they come up against Birmingham.
The Lancashire club earned a point against Arsenal last week with a valiant display that showed they have the fight for the battle ahead.
Blackburn are 14th in the table but they are just two points away from the doom of the bottom three positions.
Draws in their last two outings will have given them some confidence for the rest of the campaign but they will no doubt face a stern test against Birmingham.
The Carling Cup winners suffered a significant drop in form following their cup success at Wembley which saw them tumble down the table.
Alex McLeish has a raft of injury concerns ahead of this game as he looks to build on the impressive win against Bolton in their last outing.
The victory took them out of the drop zone and up to 15th but they are still within the reach of the vines of relegation.
Birmingham have a two-point cushion between them and the bottom three, and perhaps more importantly, have a game in hand on their rivals.
Blackburn, though, will have to be weary of Birmingham from set pieces as they have scored 53 per cent of their goals from this route.
McLeish will be concerned about his side's poor away form this term that has seen them win just two wins in their last 19 games.
Team news
Kean has no fresh injury worries but will be without Steven Nzonzi who starts a three-match ban following his dismissal at the Emirates last week.
His drive in midfield will be a real loss but Kean will be pleased to have Morten Gamst Pedersen and Gael Givet back for selection.
Pedersen returns after illness to add some guile and width to Rovers and Givet is back after completing a suspension.
David Dunn and Phil Jones are again available after being out for large parts of the season with injury.
Vince Grella and Keith Andrews remain sidelined through injury and are unavailable for this clash.
On-loan David Bentley will miss the trip to his former club and defender Martin Jiranek will also miss out.
England international Bentley has not been able to shake off a groin injury and Jiranek is ruled out with a toe complaint.
There are also doubts over the fitness of striking duo of Nikola Zigic and fellow striker Obafemi Martins.
Zigic, who is the club's top scorer with eight goals, has groin and hip concerns, while Nigeria international Martins has just a groin injury.
James McFadden and Scott Dann remain on the sidelines with knee and hamstring problems and are unlikely to return from long term lay-offs this season.
David Murphy, though, returns after missing the game last week with a hamstring injury.
Kevin Phillips could retain his place after scoring on a rare start last week.
Possible starting XIs
Blackburn:Robinson, Nelsen, Samba, Olsson, P Jones, J Jones, Emerton, Dunn, Hoilett, Santa Cruz, Pedersen.
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Birmingham: Foster, Carr, Johnson, Ridgewell, Murphy, Bowyer, Ferguson, Gardner, Fahey, Jerome, Phillips.
