Premier League preview: Birmingham City v West Bromwich Albion

Birmingham City will need to move on from their Carling Cup triumph quickly when they face West Bromwich Albion at home on Saturday.

The lunch-time Premier League kickoff features two of the bottom five sides with Birmingham, in 16th, just one spot above their Midlands rivals who occupy 18th spot on the table.

It will come just six days after Birmingham broke their 48-year trophy drought with their shock 2-1 win over Arsenal at Wembley but Blues boss Alex McLeish confirmed the club had put celebrations on hold to focus on this Saturday’s vital fixture.

“We reserved next weekend for some celebrations,” McLeish said after the final victory.

“We’ve got West Brom so I hope it’s not a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show because the West Brom game is vital for us. That’s another cup final.”

Birmingham will parade the Carling Cup to their fans on Sunday but will be aware that any slip-up at St. Andrew’s could be crucial with West Brom just as desperate to move away from the bottom of the table.

The reverse fixture earlier this season saw Birmingham take an early lead through Cameron Jerome before second-half strikes from Peter Odemwingie and Jonas Olsson and a Scott Dann own-goal gave the The Hawthorns outfit all three points in a 3-1 win.

But much has changed since at West Brom, including their manager, with Roberto di Matteo being sacked and replaced by former Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson.

Hodgson will have his work cut out to steer the club clear of relegation with his main priority being to stop the club’s leaky defence, which has conceded the second-most goals in the Premier League this season.

West Brom have kept just one Premier League clean sheet throughout the entire season, in their second fixture against Sunderland, and although Hodgson has led his club to three successive drams since he has taken over, he has been unable to stop his side conceding goals.

He can have no complaints with injuries, with Pablo Ibanez the only member of his first-team squad sidelined while for Birmingham they will miss Alexander Hleb and Scott Dann with long-term knee and hamstring problems respectively, while Obafemi Martins may be called up to the starting line-up after two goals in his last two matches, including the winner against Arsenal.