KC Stadium, Saturday 1500BST
HULL CITY:
Manager Phil Brown has put his players through some rigorous training this week in the wake of their woeful defeat at Sunderland last weekend. Brown was rightly fuming with his side's second half capitulation in one of the few away games he thought Hull might have been able to secure a victory from this season.
The defeat could yet prove to be a significant setback, having stopped Hull firmly in their tracks considering they had taken four points from the two games prior to going to the Stadium of Light. Hull have proved their critics wrong before, however and Brown has challenged them to do so again. He knows a home fixture with Birmingham represents the perfect opportunity for his players to show their character and ability to put setbacks behind them.
Brown said: "We've had some intense time on the training ground because we know last week was just not good enough. I'm looking for the players to show some character and show me what they are made of. No disrespect to Birmingham, but this is a game we can win and I'm interested to see how the players set about the challenge."
Strategy: Brown will be demanding a positive response and will hand Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink his first start, probably at the expense of Craig Fagan. Hull must learn to take full advantage of such games at the KC Stadium, but a positive outcome has to be underpinned by some solid defending and this is where Brown's problems lie. He is badly missing the influence of Anthony Gardner and Kamil Zayatte has proved an unreliable replacement. Hull look vulnerable to sustained pressure and he will be hoping his midfield can take enough control of the game to prevent this from happening too much.
Injury Update: Long term injury victims Jimmy Bullard (knee), Ian Ashbee (knee), Richard Garcia (knee) and Dean Marney (knee) remain sidelined. Gardner is also out with a knee problem. Brown must resolve his defensive issues and could play Paul McShane at centre back, with Bernard Mendy being recalled to the right back position.
BIRMINGHAM CITY:
Salving the wounds from last Sunday's defeat to Aston Villa has been high on the agenda for Alex McLeish this week. The self-confessed "sore loser" has needed plenty of balm for all his staff at the club's training headquarters at Wast Hills.
He knows too that there is no better cure for the sickness than a Premier League victory, especially against one of the teams that he considers to be rivals in the struggle to avoid finishing in the bottom three next May. Villa may well have been the glamour, but this is the dirty end of the job for the Scot.
"Beating Villa would have been great, but Hull, ourselves and teams of a similar standard will all feel these are the games that will make a difference at the end of the season. Brown will have been saying that to his players all week and I have been saying the same to mine," said McLeish.
Strategy: Against Villa, McLeish was determined to match the shape of Martin O'Neill's side and consequently utilised only one striker in Gary O'Connor. He may well choose to be more adventurous here if he values victory as highly as he seems to.
That could well mean the long awaited full debut of Christian Benitez. The Ecuador striker certainly made an impact as a second-half substitute against Villa and the pace of the man nicknamed "Chucho" could be crucial, especially as McLeish has lost the mercurial talents of Scotland international James McFadden.
Injury Update: McFadden is the latest addition to a lengthy injury list for Birmingham with a groin injury that could sideline him for a few weeks. McLeish is still without Martin Taylor, Cameron Jerome, Stephen Carr, Liam Ridgewell and David Murphy. Murphy and Ridgwell made a return to training this week, but are still not expected to be fully fit until the end of the year.
