Preview: Newcastle vs B'ham

Newcastle find themselves with their boss in an untenable position only picking up two points from a possible 18. Alex McLeish has settled in well at Birmingham however, as his victory over Spurs demonstrated.

Michael Owen (thigh), Stephen Carr (hamstring), Abdoulaye Faye (calf) and Claudio Cacapa (knee) are missing, Gary McSheffrey has a minor hip injury but should be available.

Big Sam: I'm a good boss

"I'm experienced enough to handle whatever comes my way because I have been in it so long.

"You know you are a good manager and you know what you are doing. You do not let the distractions put you off.

"When you do, or when the players do, that's when you get poor performances and poor results."

Squads

Newcastle (from): Given, Harper, Beye, Enrique, Rozehnal, Taylor, Edgar, Butt, Milner, Geremi, Emre, N'Zogbia, Barton, Smith, Viduka, Martins, Ameobi.

Birmingham (from): Taylor, Kingson, Doyle, Kelly, Ridgewell, Djourou, Schmitz, Sadler, Queudrue, Larsson, Muamba, Nafti, McSheffrey, Kapo, O'Connor, Forssell, Jerome, Johnson, Palacios.

Eyefootball Premiership Predictor

Newcastle 1-0 Birmingham

A tough one, but Newcastle will pick up some much needed points here. As Newcastle showed against Arsenal, they are capable of good football. It'll start here.

Goalscorer: Charles N'Zogbia