Alex McLeish is optimistic that Birmingham can beat the drop by defeating Fulham on Sunday.
Blues boss wants his player to make the 'final push over the line'
Alex McLeish is optimistic that Birmingham can beat the drop by defeating Fulham on Sunday.
Victory at home to the Cottagers would guarantee Premier League survival for a third successive campaign.
And after lifting their first major trophy for 48 years by winning the Carling Cup, this season would be classed as a huge success for the Scot.
McLeish believes it is important for the West Midlands club to establish themselves as a top-flight club.
He said: "It's in our own hands if we win so there's that motivation and that target for us.
"To get to this stage of the season, given the injury problems we've had since the Carling Cup final, I think the lads have done brilliantly.
"But they've just got to make that final push over the line on Sunday.
"We are looking for our boys to be rottweilers at the weekend and give us those performance levels we got against Bolton, Sunderland and, to a lesser degree, Wolves when we were down to 10 men."
Importance
He added: "The league has always been of paramount importance to us. The Carling Cup was fantastic from the point of view of the trophyless cupboard for 40-odd years.
"You can never take that away from us, so we're proud of that, and I wouldn't change that for anything.
"But the Premier League is the bread and butter and the stakes are extremely high.
"We just want to try and get that stability of staying in the league for three or four seasons like Stoke have done and go from strength to strength.
"The players have got to go and enjoy it, not fear it. The sun will still come up the next day whatever happens.
"We need them to go and show no fear and they have gone and done that exceptionally well.
"We've had a wee bit of travel sickness recently in terms of away performances but they've got to turn it on for the home crowd."
