Birmingham City will be keen to return to winning ways when they welcome Reading to St Andrews in this weekend's Premiership clash.

The Blues started life under new manager Alex McLeish with a convincing 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur but their poor form continued with a 2-1 loss to Newcastle United thanks to an injury time goal by Habib Beye.

The loss leaves Birmingham 15th in the league table with 14 points from 16 matches, just one point above the relegation zone. McLeish will have to settle down in his new job quickly and motivate his team to chalk up good performances if the club is to banish chances of relegation and achieve a comfortable finish to the season.

With the Birmingham board promising funds for McLeish to buy players in the January window, the former Scotland manager will be hoping that the danger of losing out a place in the team will be enough to motivate his current crop of players to put up some much needed points on the board.

Meanwhile Reading will be looking to build on their shock 3-1 win over Liverpool with another convincing performance over Birmingham. Goals from Stephen Hunt, Kevin Doyle and James Harper saw Steve Coppell's side emerge victorious over Liverpool, pulling themselves to 12th in the league table with 17 points from 16 matches.

With strikers Dave Kitson and Kevin Doyle in good form, Coppell will be looking at his defense to do its job to collect another three points against Birmingham on Saturday.

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