Birmingham City will be aiming to make it three successive wins in the Europa League when Club Brugge visit St Andrew's.
Hughton insists Blues are still underdogs to progress
Birmingham City will be aiming to make it three successive wins in the Europa League when Club Brugge visit St Andrew's on Thursday evening.
The Championship club have so far coped admirably with combining domestic and European commitments, and Chris Hughton's side are unbeaten in eight games in all competitions.
Blues are also top of Group H after Chris Wood's goal in the 10th minute of injury-time a fortnight ago secured a 2-1 victory away to Brugge.
However, despite the impressive start to the Europa League, Hughton is adamant that Blues are still underdogs to reach the last 32, and says Brugge and last season's runners-up Braga are the favourites to advance.
Hughton's side lost their only previous home match in the group 3-1 to Braga, but followed that up with a 2-1 victory at Maribor before becoming the first English side to win at Brugge in eight attempts.
Duo return
Ahead of the game, Hughton is weighing up whether to make changes to his team, but he will have Wade Elliott and Pablo Ibanez back in contention.
Midfielder Elliott has not featured since picking up a calf injury in the 2-1 triumph in Belgium two weeks ago, while centre-back Ibanez has also missed out due to the concussion he sustained late on at the Jan Breydelstadion.
Several knocks and bruises will be assessed before kick-off, but midfielders Morgaro Gomis (groin) and Jordon Mutch (ankle) remain sidelined.
Brugge head into the game without a coach after Adrie Koster was sacked following the weekend's 5-4 defeat by Champions League participants Genk.
It was a fourth defeat in a row for Brugge in all competitions and the visitors will be aiming to recapture the form which brought back-to-back wins over Maribor and Braga.
Former England and Nottingham Forest boss Steve McClaren is reportedly top of Brugge's shortlist to replace Koster and it will be interesting to see if he is spotted at St Andrew's.
