Tottenham Hotspur welcome Birmingham City to White Hart Lane in their weekend's Premiership clash knowing well that a win will boost their chances of entering the top half of the Premier League table.

New manage Juande Ramos seems to have steady the ship, pulling Tottenham out of the drop zone to 14th position in the league with 12 points from 14 games. Spurs won their second match of the season in the 4-0 thrashing of Wigan Athletic early this month but were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw against West Ham United last week.

Carlton Cole had given West Ham the lead but Spurs equalized through Michael Dawson and should have wrapped up all three points when they were awarded a penalty in the final minute of the game. But Robert Green pulled off a stunning save to deny Jermain Defoe from the penalty spot to snatch a point for his team.

With the injury situation improving at White Hart Lane, Ramos will be looking to lift the club further up the table and hope for a late push to claim a European spot come the end of the season. Gareth Bale and Steed Malbranque have been declared fit to play the match but Tottenham could be without the services of defender Younes Kaboul who has suffered a groin injury.

Meanwhile Birmingham fans will be looking for some good times ahead following the appointment of Alex McLeish as the new manager to replace Steve Bruce. The former Scotland manager was unveiled to the media and fans on Wednesday with the board expressing their belief that McLeish is the right manager to take Birmingham to the next level.

McLeish's immediate task will be to overcome a three match losing streak and push the club away from the drop zone. Birmingham have lost four of their last five matches with the only victory coming in the narrow win over Wigan Athletic last month.

The last time the two teams met was in the 2005-06 season with Tottenham winning the fixture by a comfortable margin of 2-0.

Watch Tottenham Hotspur vs Birmingham live on free-football.tv.