Birmingham City v Newcastle United preview

Birmingham are dropping closer and closer to the dreaded relegation places and the pressure is on Alex McLeish to get some wins on the board, starting with the visit of Newcastle to St Andrews on Saturday.

The defeat to Midlands rivals Wolves last weekend was their first defeat in five games, but too many of those matches were draws rather than wins. That loss, which was the second time this season they have not had one shot in target in 90 minutes, leaves them sitting just two points above the bottom three.

McLeish hailed the "resilience" of his side after the game claiming they "show character" and can bounce back from such set-backs. He needs his players to live up to that praise against a Newcastle team that are eight places, but only four points, ahead of them in the Premier League - with Birmingham priced at 7/5 to get the valuable three points.

Defender Liam Ridgewell is likely to be back after overcoming a bout of flu, but Alexander Hleb and James McFadden remain on the sidelines. McLeish could bring Craig Gardner back into the team after having him on the bench at Molineux to give the team more of a goal threat.

The new Newcastle manager Alan Pardew have a great first game in charge, beating Liverpool 3-1 at St James' Park last weekend. His appointment was not warmly welcomed among the Geordie faithful, but he went some way to winning them over with that win.

It was Newcastle's key trio of Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Andy Carroll that gave Pardew all three points in that game, and the travelling fans could take some encouragement from the fact Birmingham have won only one of the 10 Premier League meetings between the two teams – and none of the five played at St Andrews – with Newcastle 11/5 to extend that run with a win.

Pardew will be boosted by the return of Mike Williamson and Fabricio Coloccini, the first-choice central defensive parternship under former manager Chris Hughton, as both players have completed three-match suspensions. He will have to make a choice in goal, with the fit-again Steve Harper back in contention to take over from Tim Krul – who has impressed in the veteran's absence.

How the Birmingham defence of Roger Johnson Scott Dann copes with the threat of Carroll (5/1 to be first goalscorer) could be crucial at St Andrews, as some big-name defenders in the Premier League have struggled against the big Newcastle number nine. McLeish could opt to play 6ft 8in Nikola Zigic (8/1 to score first goal) to both cope with the Carroll threat at set-pieces and offer a similar danger up front for Birmingham.

The Premier League this season is showing to be one of the tightest for years so Birmingham can give themselves a massive boost with all three points going into a busy festive period that could make or break their season. If Newcastle head back to Tyneside with all three points then Pardew could have taken another step to prove himself to the St James' Park faithful.