Birmingham begin life after Steve Bruce with a testing home clash against in-form Portsmouth.
In-form Pompey tackle managerless Blues
Birmingham begin life after Steve Bruce with a testing home clash against in-form Portsmouth.
Bruce ended his six-year association with the St Andrews outfit on Monday, with assistant manager Eric Black in charge of team affairs for the Premier League meeting with Pompey.
Birmingham's only victory in their last seven matches came against Wigan, the side Bruce is poised to join, and they have slipped to 15th in the table.
Pompey, by contrast, are on the brink of setting a new club record with a ninth Premier League game unbeaten in their sights.
Harry Redknapp's men have also won their last four league games on the road, collecting maximum points from their trips to Newcastle, Wigan, Fulham and Blackburn.
The form guide suggests the points could be shared at St Andrews, with seven of the last 10 league meetings ending all-square, although that trend was bucked somewhat when the last clash between the two sides ended in a 5-0 victory for Birmingham.
Forssell
Mikael Forssell is pushing for a place in the starting line-up after coming off the bench to score in the derby defeat by Aston Villa last time out.
The Finland international was on target for his country against Azerbaijan last Saturday and also played the full 90 minutes of Wednesday's 0-0 draw against Portugal.
Forssell is expected to take the place of Cameron Jerome with his fellow forward recovering from a hernia operation.
Utaka boost
John Utaka has recovered from the hamstring injury which forced him off at half-time in Portsmouth's goalless draw with Manchester City last time out.
But Utaka's Nigeria team-mate Kanu is a major doubt after suffering a hamstring strain in the same match.
Senegal midfielder Papa Bouba Diop returns from suspension so Redknapp is expected to revert to his preferred 4-5-1 formation.
Defender Sol Campbell will be happy to have Croatia midfielder Niko Kranjcar, whose early goal set the tone for England's miserable defeat at Wembley on Wednesday night, on his side rather than in opposition.
Croatia's victory dumped England out of Euro 2008 at the qualification stage and cost manager Steve McClaren his job.
Pompey boss Redknapp swiftly saw his name linked with the post, but the Fratton Park club were quick to insist that any approach from the FA would be rebuffed.
