Aitor Karanka returns to familiar surroundings this afternoon as he takes his Birmingham City team to Teesside to face Middlesbrough.

And the Spaniard is desperate for a result with his outfit sitting in 19th place in the Championship table and sitting perilously close to the relegation zone.

With some of the talents Karanka is able to call on, dropping into the bottom three shouldn't even be a thought but the Blues have struggled to string wins together and finding a regular stream of goals has been difficult.

Birmingham took a break from league action last week but they were given a footballing lesson by Pep Guardiola and Manchester City in the FA Cup, and that will probably make the team glad they're back in league action.

Blues are on a run of six Championship games without a win, and in the reverse fixture at St. Andrews last month, Boro ran away as 4-1 winners in what was perhaps a harsh scoreline on the home side.

 

Quiz: The top 16 Birmingham City record player departures – Which club did they join though?

 

 

Fans have been begging for exciting winger Jeremie Bela to start after being left out of the last two games, and there's good news as the Angolan has been recalled by Karanka as he makes three changes to the side that was defeated by City last weekend.

Bela, Neil Etheridge and Harlee Dean all come in for Jonathan Leko, Andres Prieto and Jake Clarke-Salter - and Birmingham fans have been reacting to the line-up on Twitter.