Roberto Mancini is likely to make a number of changes to his side as City prepare for their third game in a week following meetings with West Brom and Manchester United. Mario Balotelli serves the second game of a three-match ban but Adam Johnson and Emmanuel Adebayor are amongst those hoping for a recall. Birmingham boss Alex McLeish has no fresh injury concerns ahead of the game, with James McFadden the only long-term absentee with a knee ligament injury. Colin Doyle is expected to again deputise as back-up keeper to Ben Foster while Maik Taylor recovers from a shoulder problem. Full-back David Murphy could be in contention for a place amongst the substitutes after returning to training following a hamstring injury. McLeish has to decide whether to restore playmaker Alexander Hleb to the starting line-up after leaving him out for the midweek defeat at Stoke. Manchester City (from): Hart, Richards, Zabaleta, Bridge, Lescott, Boyata, De Jong, Vieira, Barry, Johnson, K Toure, Y Toure, Tevez, Silva, Adebayor, Kolarov, Given, Milner, Kompany, Boateng. Birmingham (from): Foster, Carr, Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Larsson, Ferguson, Gardner, Beausejour, Zigic, Jerome, Fahey, Doyle, Parnaby, Bowyer, Phillips, Hleb, Murphy, Derbyshire, Michel, Jiranek.
