Premier League preview: Birmingham v Stoke

Birmingham’s clash with Stoke City at St Andrew’s on Saturday will see the return of Obafemi Martins to the English Premier League.

The 26-year-old striker, who played with Newcastle United before trekking to the Bundesliga with VfL Wolfsburg and then current club Rubin Kazan in Russia, was loaned to Birmingham until season’s end and is set to debut under Alex McLeish this weekend.

His strike partner at Birmingham, Cameron Jerome, is anticipating great things from the stocky Nigerian, although Jerome himself will be a danger on Saturday having scored in only two outings against Stoke.

“Obafemi has played in the Premier League before and is an international player so he will add something different, a new dimension to our strike force,” Jerome said.

“He is not one who has got to come in and find his feet in the Premier League. He knows how to play and, from what we have seen of him before at Newcastle, he seems to be a very explosive player. That is what we need at the moment.”

“We need that extra dimension up front. Hopefully he can come in and settle quickly and we can make best use of him from now to the end of the season. I’m looking forward to playing with someone like it was last year with myself and Christian Benitez.”

Birmingham clinched a crucial relegation battle over West Ham 1-0 on Sunday but their opposition in Stoke are six points above them on the Premier League table and dreaming of European football.

Tony Pulis’ men sit just four points outside the top seven and come into the clash in winning form after beating Sunderland 3-2 at the Brittania Stadium.

A result is almost certainly on the cards on Saturday with Stoke having drawn just three matches from their 25 played in the Premier League this campaign.

Birmingham’s Scott Dann is out for the season after having surgery on his hamstring, while James McFadden (knee) is also out long term, but midfielder Alexander Hleb could return off the bench from a knee injury suffered in November.

For Stoke, striker Mamady Sidibe scored on return from a five-and-a-half month lay-off due to an Achilles injury on Wednesday in the club’s reserve team, and could be on the bench on Saturday.