O'Brien, Faye, Lansbury and Faubert available for Birmingham

Unfortunately Baldock is still out, as are Taylor (injury) and Collison (suspended), but Doctor Evil has more options available to him for the Birmingham game than for the Barnsley match, which is a blessed relief. Presumably this will signal a return to a 4-5-1 formation, with the usual suspects shuffled and square pegs forced into round holes to make the "shape" feasible.

The smart money has to be on this line up:

Green

O'Brien, Faye, Tomkins, McCartney

Diop, Noble

Faubert          Nolan          Lansbury

Cole

To be fair, that looks a pretty solid unit and with Lansbury back in the team, promises a little more in terms of creativity, but the big question is where the goals will come from? Basically you are looking for just three men to chip in with goals from open play, and the principle striker isn't exactly a goal machine is he?

Diop scored his first goal in six years on Saturday so he isn't going to offer another for some time is he? Noble seems to think you can only score from the penalty spot. And Faubert has managed a grand total of 15 league goals over his entire career! After his splurge of goals, Cole is due a barren spell and Nolan would do well to total 15 over a season. It makes defending against us a little easy doesn't it?

Our last three Championship games have seen us score just 2 goals. That is a worrying stat that is easily explained by the goal shy personnel that populates the squad. If we are going to win at Birmingham, we will have to keep a clean sheet!