Birmingham will be hoping to return to winning ways when they play Coventry City at St Andrew's Stadium on Saturday.

Following on from their FA Cup meeting last term, the Blues will be the away side despite playing at their home ground - looking to end a two-match losing run before the international break.

It's been a poor start to life in the Blues dugout for Aitor Karanka, whose side are only six points above the danger-zone, although the Midlands outfit are the same amount of points away from the play-off places, so three points this weekend could really kickstart their campaign.

And Karanka has been handed some encouraging team news ahead of the game at St Andrew's, after the Spaniard confirmed that he has a host of first-team players back available for selection.

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Karanka confirmed that trio Kristian Pedersen, George Friend and Jake Clarke-Salter are back in training and could feature against the Sky Blues, whilst Josh McEachran is also back training with the team following nine months out, although he remains some way off a return to action.

The Verdict

This is exactly the kind of news that Karanka needed following two difficult home defeats before the break.

The Birmingham boss now has a near-full squad available for selection at the weekend, which should leave his side in good stead to collect just their second away victory of the campaign, albeit in familiar surroundings on Saturday.