Birmingham City Out to do Double at Blackburn

Birmingham City gave their battle against the drop a massive boost with a win over Bolton last time out and they need a repeat as they travel to Blackburn Rovers.

That 2-1 win at St Andrews lifted Birmingham up to 15th in the table, where they sit level with Saturday's opponents but only two points clear of the bottom three.

The goalscoring hero against Bolton was the veteran Kevin Phillips and boss Alex McLeish came out after the game to admit he had underused the 37-year-old so far this season.

Phillips now has four goals in four appearances so far this season and is 9/1 to score the first goal on Saturday.

His display prompted his manager's description of him as a "genius in the box" and he will be in contention to start at Ewood Park, though giant Serbian striker Nikola Zigic has returned from a groin problem and will hope to be included.

Birmingham need to reverse their fortunes on the road as they have only won two away games all season. They beat Blackburn 2-1 at St Andrews earlier in the season thanks to two goals from Craig Gardner and are 16/5 to do the double with a win at Ewood Park.

The midfielder has issued a rallying call to his team-mates this week to step up over the remaining games to ensure they do not go down and ruin their Carling Cup exploits this season.

"We've won a trophy but, if you go down, it counts for nothing," said Craig Gardner, who is 11/1 to score the first goal.

"If you win a trophy and stay up, it's probably one of the best seasons you're going to have in football."

A boost for McLeish is the possible return of two key midfielders, with Alexander Hleb and David Bentley having recovered from knee and groin problems respectively to be pushing for a starting spot at Ewood Park.

Blackburn have not won a Premier League game since January 24th but will come into this buoyed by their draw with Arsenal last time out. Rovers' fans could also take solace in the statistic that the home team have won the last nine meetings between the two teams, with Blackburn priced at 21/20 by the bookmakers to win this clash.

Steve Kean is without Steven Nzonzi after his red card at the Emirates, but Gael Givet is back after serving his own suspension. David Dunn remains sidelines with a hip problem and Vince Grella is out long-term.

Both Blackburn and Birmingham have to anxiously look over the shoulders at the bottom three, but three points could give them some breathing space and inch the side closer to safety.