West Ham v Birmingham preview

Published Feb. 4, 2011 1:16 p.m. ET

foxsports

Avram Grant will wait to see strikers Frederic Piquionne and Carlton Cole in a late training session before naming his side for Sunday's clash against Birmingham. Jack Collison and Thomas Hitzlsperger, meanwhile, continue their recovery from long-term injuries while Manu Da Costa played an hour for the reserves earlier this week, his first competitive action since injuring an ankle against Arsenal in October. Birmingham will check on the fitness of three players before finalising their side for the relegation clash away to the Hammers. Striker Cameron Jerome (ankle), midfielder Barry Ferguson (ankle) and central defender Roger Johnson (calf) are all battling to be available. Johnson was unable to train ahead of the midweek encounter with Manchester City, but battled through the 90 minutes. If he is ruled out, Blues boss Alex McLeish could hand a debut to new signing Curtis Davies. Birmingham are still waiting to see if loan signing Obafemi Martins will obtain a visa in time to face the Hammers. West Ham (From): Green, Jacobsen, Gabbidon, Reid, Tomkins, Bridge, O'Neil, Noble, Parker, Obinna, Boa Morte, Piquionne, Keane, Kovac, Ilunga, Boffin, Cole, Sears, Ba. Birmingham (from): Foster, Carr, Johnson, Jiranek, Davies, Ridgewell, Bentley, Larsson, Ferguson, Gardner, Bowyer, Fahey, Jerome, Zigic, Phillips, Martins, Doyle, Hleb, Beausejour, Derbyshire.