mancityblues.com

Under the sensible and pragmatic Alex McLeish, Birmingham has become an established Premiership outfit, boasting an impressive home record and a reasonable showing on the road. This is mainly thanks to Birmingham's excellent defense of course, backed up by our very own Joe Hart - arguably the equal of Shay Given this season. Fortunately, Hart cannot play against City, and Maik Taylor does.

I think it's fair to say that Birmingham will be happy with a point on Sunday. Mancini's men are on fire after the Burnley victory, and I expect them to play with confidence and panache, so it's possible we'll see an "irresistible force vs an immovable object" scenario for this encounter. The spectre of complacency is always a concern when it comes to City, but Mancini will doubtless be aware of this by now and will ensure that the players are well motivated - they will need to be, because McLeish and company certainly will be. The fact that injuries and suspensions have allowed some of the fringe players an opportunity may actually have helped City's cause - for various reasons, those individuals will be keen to impress.

Those missing include Zabaleta, possibly Richards, Ireland and probably Sylvinho. Bridge is training apparently, but whether he is ready to feature for this game is uncertain. There were a number of positives from the Burnley game of course, and although Birmingham will be a tougher nut to crack, the same team, with the exception of Sylvinho, should have a good chance of victory. That would see us line up like this -

--------------------Given-----------------------
Onuoha------Toure---------Kompany------Garrido
------------Vieira----------Barry---------------
-AJ-----------------------------------Bellamy--
--------------------Tevez-----------------------
-------------------------Adebayor---------------

Hope Paddy's legs have another 90 minutes in them, and he and Barry get the nod to face old enemies Bowyer and Ferguson. Garrido and Bellamy tend to link well together, and the Bellamy/Carr encounter may be eventful. Going the other way, either McFadden or Larssen are capable of causing Garrido problems, so Barry, Bellamy and Kompany will need to be switched on to this threat.

On the other wing, the danger to City will primarily be in the unlikely form of left-back Liam Ridgewell - he often pops up on the far post and, if not marked carefully, can score goals both from open play (especially on the counter-attack) and set-pieces. Set-pieces are probably Brum's best opportunity to trouble Shay Given, the likes of Johnson, Dann, Jerome, Ridgewell and the pesky goal-poacher Kevin Phillips all capable of causing an upset. The combination of Nedum and AJ will be important on Sunday, both to counter the issues already noted, and to get behind that stubborn Birmingham defense - I feel that one key to breaching the Brum goal will be beating the full-back and forcing Dann and Johnson out of their comfort zone.

On the subject of Shay Given, the City keeper really needs to improve his kicking and distribution. Whether this is possible is hard to say, but it's one area where Joe Hart is superior.

The signs that Tevez and Ade are forming a partnership are very encouraging. If these two can continue to improve their footballing relationship, and receive good supply from the midfield and the wings, then we should be in the driving seat against Birmingham. No doubt it will be a bruising encounter, with no quarter given, but it is these games, and at this vital stage of the season, that players like Tevez, Ade, Bellamy, Barry, Vieira and Toure need to step up to the plate and take control.

Tactically, Birmingham don't have many hands that they can play - using Benitez or Philipps alongside Jerome in a 4-4-2 is about it - rather, their success this season has been based on being very well organized, 100% effort and commitment and sticking to a solid gameplan. City's big players need to dig deeply into their experience and qualities to counter this, and get the job done - simple as that. ~Bloovic~