The Blues enter the festive period sat 16th in the table, just two points above the drop zone. A run which has brought just one win in eight outings has seen them tumble into trouble, with Alex McLeish's men yet to repeat their heroics of last season. Centre-back Johnson accepts that performances of late have not been good enough and knows a hectic schedule over the next few weeks could make or break the Blues. "Over the Christmas period we've got a tough few games and we'll have to try to pick some points up because we're in a battle at the minute," he said. "Newcastle (on Saturday) has turned into a massive game for us. We're not sitting there thinking we're going to get relegated or anything like that. "If we string a few wins together, then we are right in amongst it again." Johnson will need to be at his best at the weekend if he is to help Birmingham to three points, with a fixture at St Andrews set to pitch him against Newcastle's in-form frontman Andy Carroll. "It will be a battle and I'm looking forward to it," he added. "Andy Carroll is one of those forwards who wants the ball and goes for everything. "He will make a tackle and he can finish. He's a good player. I would like to have him in my team. "Andy is doing well, but he's nothing I haven't faced before, so it doesn't really bother me." Meanwhile, veteran frontman Kevin Phillips has spoken of his ambition to get more game time at Birmingham as the games start coming thick and fast. "We need to score goals, I'm a goalscorer and I want to be doing that," he said in The Sun. "Of course I want to play more and I feel that I can. "It's been frustrating this first part of the season. With a busy schedule over Christmas I'm sure I'll get used."
