Birmingham City welcome Aston Villa to St Andrews in their Premiership clash this weekend knowing fully well they must get the results if they are to avoid getting into the relegation wrangle at the end of the season. Aston Villa on the other hand enter the derby game secure in the knowledge that they have begun their Premier League season on a strong note.

Blues boss Steve Bruce is also facing an uncertain future with speculation mounting on Carson Yeung's proposed takeover. The latter has said he is prepared to discuss Bruce's future only after completing the takeover.

Birmingham won 3-2 against Wigan two weeks ago, but slipped up against Everton 3-1 last week. City are also plagued with injuries and have a depleted strike force to contend with. Forssell continues to be unavailable following his hernia surgery, while Oubina has damaged his knee ligaments and is out for six months. Taylor has a torn muscle in his stomach and is sidelined indefinitely.

Nevertheless Bruce will be hoping a derby atmosphere will spur his team on against Aston Villa. Birmingham are currently 14th on the Premiership table with 11 points from 12 games.

Aston Villa on the other hand have enjoyed a good beginning to their Premiership season under Martin O'Neill. They recovered nicely after being held to a 1-1 draw by Bolton to trash Derby 2-0. Aston Villa striker John Carew is slated to return for the derby against Birmingham City after recovering from a nagging knee injury that kept him out of action the last five weeks.

Sorensen continued to be unavailable in goal and is recovering from a strained hamstring. Aston Villa are 9th on the Premier League table with 18 points from 11 games. The last time these two teams met was in the 2005-06 season when Villa clinched the game 1-0.

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