Birmingham City host Cardiff City on Saturday looking to build on the 2-1 win they secured at Luton Town last weekend, which made it back to back wins in all competitions following a win against Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup.

Those wins have enabled the Blues to ease some of the pressure that had resulted from a poor run of form between November and December, which had seen Pep Clotet’s side slide down the Championship table and start to look over their shoulders towards the relegation zone.

Birmingham will have to build on their recent up turn in form against Cardiff without the presence of defender Harlee Dean, who will be serving a suspension, after he was sent off for a second bookable offence in the final four minutes of their win against Luton last weekend.

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That means that Clotet will be light of options at centre half, but Marc Roberts could potentially be set to make a return to action having returned to training this week, after missing out on the Blues last nine games after picking up an ankle injury in Birmingham’s 1-1 draw against Millwall.

Clotet should also once again be able to call on Jake Clarke-Salter, with the Chelsea loanee having returned to the side from injury during the last two matches, having missed out on a few of the Blues fixtures over the festive period after being forced off in their 3-2 win at Reading.

Birmingham midfielder Maikel Kieftenbeld, though, is likely to miss out on the game against Cardiff on Saturday as he continues his recovery from a serious knee injury he suffered during the Blues 1-0 win against Leeds United back in April, but the 29-year-old will be given the chance to rebuild his match fitness with club’s under23s over the next few weeks.

However, the Blues will have midfielder Ivan Sunjic back available after he served a suspension at Luton last time out, after being sent off in Birmingham’s win against Blackburn in the FA Cup third round two weeks ago.