Nottingham Forest manager Chris Hughton has given his backing to Aitor Karanka to turn things around at his former club Birmingham City.

Former Forest boss Karanka is currently coming in for some scrutiny at St Andrew's, following a run that has seen his side win just two of their last 12 games.

That has seen Birmingham slide to 17th in the Championship table, just six points clear of the relegation zone, although it seems Hughton believes things can get better for his old club quickly under Karanka.

Giving his assessment of the Blues situation ahead of their clash with Forest at The City Ground on Boxing Day, Hughton was quoted by The Birmingham Mail as saying: “Aitor is a very good manager and an experienced manager. There will always be ups and downs in a competitive division.

“The landscape can look different from now until three or four weeks later. You can have a dramatic change."

Indeed, it seems Hughton himself is wary of the squad that Karanka has at his disposal despite Birmingham's current predicament, as he went on to add: “What I do know is on their day they have a lot of quality. They can win any match on any day.”

Forest themselves are in a somewhat precarious position in the Championship table, going into the game 20th in the standings, just one point clear of the relegation zone.
The Verdict
You do feel as though Hughton has a point here.
We have seen plenty of times in the Championship that teams can go on one run that turns their fortunes around and gets them out of trouble or into play-off contention.
Given the experience and relative success that Karanka has had at this level, there is no reason to believe that he cannot engineer that sort of turnaround at Birmingham, although considering his side's recent form, that does not look as though it will be particularly easy for him to do.