Alex McLeish has challenged his Birmingham players to secure a
top-10 finish in the Premier League table - but is wary of the
chasing pack.
Blues are currently lying ninth and have been in the top half
of the table for five months after being tipped pre-season by
bookmakers and pundits to be relegation certainties.
Their away form has faltered in recent weeks, including
Sunday's 5-1 defeat against Manchester City at Eastlands, and
McLeish is wary.
"There are teams coming up on the rails like Everton and
Fulham. Blackburn have had a great run of results and Sunderland
and Stoke are coming up there," he said. "There is going to be
great competition between now and the end of the season.
"There is still fantastic motivation for the players and the
tools have not been downed despite Sunday's defeat.
"You can see that and the players want to keep it going until
the end of the season. I'm challenging them to finish in the top
half."
Blues, unbeaten at home since September, entertain
relegation-threatened Hull on Saturday with McLeish admitting there
are "things to work on" after City's biggest reverse of the season.
He said: "We have got young centre-backs (Roger Johnson and
Scott Dann), rookies in the Premier League, and they have been
brilliant this season as have the whole back five.
"I see what happened at Manchester City as a blip but there
are things to work on in terms of the next game."
