Birmingham’s 2-0 loss to the EPL’s then-bottom side Everton prior to the international break ended the Blues year-long, 18-match unbeaten record at St Andrews.

And Chilean international striker Jean Beausejour will miss this weekend’s difficult trip to Arsenal through injury.

The Blues are 16^th in the EPL, just one point above the drop zone, after Everton added a stoppage-time goal from Tim Cahill to Roger Johnson’s own goal earlier in the half.

 

The defeat brought talk of a Blues relegation battle to the surface. But midfielder Alexander Hleb, who joined Birmingham on-loan from Catalan giants Barcelona on transfer deadline day, insisted they were too good to go down.

He said: “We’re good enough. But we need a little more from the team and,” he admitted, “the team from me.”

Beausejour joined for £3.3m, also on deadline day, but was short of match fitness on arrival at St Andrews.

He had a bright debut in a Carling Cup win over Milton Keynes. And it was hoped his general fitness would be good enough to put him in contention for the Arsenal match. But he damaged a knee ligament in training.

McLeish commented: “We have to make sure we don’t take any un-necessary risks with him.”

Meanwhile, the club are considering increasing the 30,000 capacity of St Andrews as an alternative to moving to a new stadium.

A move has long been under consideration. But current vice-chairman Peter Pannu said the club were considering work to bring about “a size increase to 45-46,000.”