Birmingham City out to shock Manchester City

Birmingham City will be looking to use their recent revitalised form in cup competitions against Manchester City as they look to climb away from the wrong end of the table.

In the last seven days Birmingham reached their first major Wembley final for 55 years after they beat West Ham 3-1 at St Andrews to go through 4-3 on aggregate to the Carling Cup final.

They followed that up with a battling 3-2 win over Coventry in the FA Cup, a performance inspired by the display of on-loan midfielder David Bentley, but now Alex McLeish's attentions will be focused back on the Premier League,

It will worry the manager and the St Andrews faithful that Birmingham have won only one of their last eight matches in the Premier League and failed to keep a clean sheet in any of those games. Bookmakers see them as 15/4 outsiders to win this clash.

They remain only a point ahead of the relegation places and now entertain the millionaires of Manchester City – a side boasting the attacking prowess of Edin Dzeko, Carlos Tevez and David Silva that are 10/11 to take all three points.

McLeish has signed Obafemi Martins and Curtis Davies along with Bentley during the January transfer window, and both could come into contention for the clash with City.

Birmingham have struggled for goals all season and the addition of former Newcastle forward Martins should hopefully bring more fire power to the struggling side. He is 10/1 with bookmakers to open the scoring on his debut.

McLeish describes Martins as an "explosive" player but he showed during his previous stint in the Premier League his pace and power can trouble defences, and he has an eye for the goal.

"He has great pace, is two-footed, very good in the air and I'm sure he's a signing that will excite the fans," said the Blues boss.

McLeish is expected to recall Roger Johnson, Cameron Jerome and Craig Gardner to the side, but Scott Dann and James McFadden are sidelined for the home side.

City know they need all three points to keep pressure on Manchester United at the top of the table and they will want to bounce back after their loss to Aston Villa last time in the league.

They were surprisingly held 1-1 by League One Notts County in the FA Cup last weekend and they are set to be without Adam Johnson after the England winger was ruled out of action for three months.

There are fears over top scorer Tevez with a back problem but Mario Balotelli and Micah Richards are both missing. Roberto Mancini is likely to recall Vincent Kompany, Aleksandar Kolarov and Silva to the team after they were rested for the cup game.