Hleb injury sours Birmingham win

Birmingham City boss Alex McLeish will sweat on a knee injury to Alexander Hleb ahead of next Sunday’s Carling Cup final against Arsenal.

Hleb was stretchered off the pitch during the Blues’ 3-0 FA Cup fifth round win over Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, souring what should have been a celebratory moment for the club as they reached the quarter-finals with ease.

The on-loan Barcelona midfielder left St Andrews on crutches and will undergo scans to determine the severity of the injury, but McLeish is hopeful the Belarus international will be back in action in time for the trip to Wembley.

“The latest is he’s limping heavily in the dressing room,” McLeish said.

“He’ll hopefully have a scan in the next 24 hours. I need to firm that up with the doctor. We’ll know after that if there’s any damage.”

“It’s his knee. We don’t believe it’s a cruciate (ligament) problem. He got a fair rattle. The guy was late in the tackle.”

“He’s a great player and we still believe he’ll make an impact for us at some stage this season and hopefully he’ll be okay for the final.”

Striker Cameron Jerome should be available despite a minor ankle injury suffered in the win, which was achieved by a squad of fringe players following a number of changes to the first-team side.

“(Jerome) went over on his ankle. We don’t think it’s too serious. He should be available,” McLeish said.

“We’ve got a thin squad as it is. If Alex misses out then that’s another man down.”

“In terms of allowing players to recharge batteries, being able to change the team and give the players some much-needed match practice it was a good day for us.”

“The strength of the squad was shown today. All of the guys who came in all played extremely well. I don’t think we had a passenger today.”