Birmingham City primed for Tottenham Hotspur visit

Alex McLeish's Birmingham City can continue their recent resurgence in form when they entertain top four-chasing Spurs at St Andrews.

The Blues have lost just one of their last ten matches in all competition and come into this clash fresh with the confidence of beating local rivals Aston Villa in the Carling Cup in midweek.

Goals from Sebastian Larsson and Nikola Zigic gave Birmingham victory in that game to send them through into the semi-finals of the competition and now McLeish's attentions return to the task of climbing the Premier League. They currently sit 14th, but are only three points above the relegation zone, and three points at 11/4 for the win could help put more space between them and the danger zone.

McLeish holds an impressive record against London-based sides, as in 11 matches at St Andrews against teams from the capital he has lost only one since he arrived at Birmingham. 

Tottenham may be flying high in the Premier League and have shone in the Champions League, but good news for Brum will be the absence of influential Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart through injury.

Birmingham are able to welcome Craig Gardner back into the side after he was named on the bench for the victory over Villa, but Alexander Hleb faces a rush against time after he suffered a hamstring problem in the draw with Fulham last weekend.

Scoring has been Birmingham's main problem so far this season, they have scored only 12 goals at St Andrews but should take heart from the fact Spurs have not kept a clean sheet in their last 14 games in the Premier League.

Even without van der Vaart, Spurs possess a host of dangerous attacking options that means the Birmingham defence will have to be at their best to keep the likes of Gareth Bale, Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch quiet, with the visitors 6/5 with bookmakers for the win.

Harry Redknapp's side can climb back into the Premier League top four with a win at St Andrews and they showed last weekend in the comeback win over Liverpool how they pose a serious threat until the final kick – with Aaron Lennon's winning goal coming two minutes into injury time.

Indeed the statistics show there have been 90th minute goals in five of the last six Premier League games between Birmingham and Tottenham, which includes each of the last four, so fans should refrain from leaving St Andrews to beat the traffic on Saturday as they may miss some late excitement.