Preview: Birmingham City v Rochdale

by setanta.com staff , 25 August 2010

Veteran striker Kevin Phillips and defender Stuart Parnaby are both on the injured list for Birmingham City ahead of Thursday's Carling Cup tie with Rochdale.


Evergreen goal machine Phillips misses out with a thigh problem, while full back Parnaby has a hamstring injury as the Blues welcome the attack-minded League One new boys to St Andrews.

Birmingham are expected to make several changes to the side that downed Blackburn 2-1 in the Premier League at the weekend, with Maik Taylor, Michel, Matt Derbyshire, Garry O'Connor and Keith Fahey in contention for starts, while Craig Gardner will want to retain his place after bagging both goals against Rovers.

Defender Josh Thompson, who has joined Dale on a season-long loan from Celtic, is set for a debut at St Andrews after not being cleared in time to face Colchester United at the weekend.

Keith Hill's men upset Barnsley away from home last time out and will be looking to raise their game even further and do the same to Alex McLeish's men.

Birmingham (from): Foster, Carr, Parnaby, Murphy, Ridgewell, Dann, Johnson, Larsson, Gardner, Bowyer, Ferguson, Michel, Mutch, Fahey, McFadden, Valles, Jerome, O'Connor, Zigic, Taylor, Doyle, Derbyshire.

Watch GAA games live on PPV
Pos
Team P W D L +/- PTS
1.
Man City
38
28
5
5
64
89
2.
Man Utd
38
28
5
5
56
89
3.
Arsenal
38
21
7
10
25
70
4.
Tottenham
38
20
9
9
25
69
5.
Newcastle
38
19
8
11
5
65
6.
Chelsea
38
18
10
10
19
64
7.
Everton
38
15
11
12
10
56
8.
Liverpool
38
14
10
14
7
52
9.
Fulham
38
14
10
14
-3
52
10.
West Brom
38
13
8
17
-7
47
11.
Swansea
38
12
11
15
-7
47
12.
Norwich
38
12
11
15
-14
47
13.
Sunderland
38
11
12
15
-1
45
14.
Stoke
38
11
12
15
-17
45
15.
Wigan
38
11
10
17
-20
43
16.
Aston Villa
38
7
17
14
-16
38
17.
QPR
38
10
7
21
-23
37
18.
Bolton
38
10
6
22
-31
36
19.
Blackburn
38
8
7
23
-30
31
20.
Wolverhampton
38
5
10
23
-43
25
Watch Online
Edit Web Part Contents