After suffering successive defeats for the first time this season the pressure is on Blues to return to winning ways when they face Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday.

Here is everything you need to know ahead of the big game.

TEAM NEWS
Blues
Blues are still without a number of players for Saturday's trip to the East Midlands. Garry O'Connor (groin), Stuart

Nicky Hunt

Parnaby (hamstring), Stephen Kelly (thigh) and David Murphy (knee), Gary McSheffrey (knee) and Damien Johnson (back) are all missing. New loan signing Nicky Hunt will keep his place at right back, but Alex McLeish has indicated he may look to make changes in midfield or attack.

Forest
Loan midfielder Carl Fletcher is a major doubt with a back problem, as is Joel Lynch (stomach bug) and Lee Martin (ankle). Left back Chris Cohen comes back into contention after recovering from an ankle injury. Midfielder Lewis McGugan begins the first game of three match ban. Guy Moussi and Julian Bennett will miss the game because of long term injuries.

FORM GUIDE
Blues
Blues have dropped down to second place in the Championship table having lost their previous two games. A 1-0 defeat away at QPR was followed earlier this week with a single goal loss against Coventry at St. Andrew's.

Forest
Following a shocking start to the season Forest currently sit in 23rd place in table, just a single point above basement club Doncaster Rovers. However their form has improved of late. In their last two games they have collected four points. An impressive 2-1 victory away at Crystal Palace was followed by a hard fought 1-1 draw away at local rivals Derby County.

Alex McLeish

MANAGERS' COMMENTS
Alex McLeish - Blues
I may change things because we've got the capacity to do it.

Some players have played six or seven games in a row so I've got to be mindful of that in order to keep players fresh with much of the season still to go.

We're only about a third into it and I don't want players feeling the effects of that later in the season when we could have had opportunities to give people much needed rest in between.

Forest will be confident. They have picked up four points out of six so I would imagine there would be a spring in their step for training.

Previous to that they were probably tearing their hair out wandering what they had to do to get a result?

But I know how quickly it can change in football.

We are now backs to the wall a wee bit after a couple of defeats. People are looking at us very closely and scrutinising us and now it's a test of character for me and my players.

I've been in this position before I've handled it before we've come out of it stronger and I believe we can do the same again.

Colin Calderwood

Colin Calderwood  - Forest
To some people this is just another Saturday game but from my point of view this is the start of our season.

We're ready to go now. Unfortunately, we've lost Lewis McGugan to suspension but we're getting closer to having all the right people back.

Julian Bennett and Guy Moussi being out is a hindrance but hopefully we've got the people up front who will score us a goal and kick us on.

We're ready psychologically - we're enthusiastic, we're looking forward to this game and the rest of the games this month. We've been lifted by the two results we've had away from home.

To that degree we're ready to get started in our season. It is switch-on time and we're ready to rock.

It's an exciting game. Birmingham are just out of the Premier League and will be a good test for us.

Scoring the first goal would be a massive psychological boost to us but we've stressed to the players about little important aspects where can tighten up.

If we can do that I think we'll see a big improvement in terms of results because I think we've hurt ourselves on or two occasions.

Prime examples are the two penalty kicks we gave away almost needlessly (against Ipswich and Cardiff). Take them out and we would have had a return of four points from those two home games.

Tommy Mooney

LAST MEETING AT THE CITY GROUND
The last time the two sides faced each at City Ground was in 2002 when the match ended 1-1 with Tommy Mooney opening the scoring for Blues, before Stern John netted the equaliser for Forest.

BETTING
Unsurprisingly Blues are strong favourites for Saturday's game at 5/2 with Bet365. The draw is on offer at 23/10 and a Forest win at 11/10. For slightly better odds, a 2-1 win to Blues with striker James McFadden scoring first can be had at 40/1. For the full range of markets clickhere for more details.

MATCH COMMENTARY
If you're not going to the City Ground, you can listen to full 90 minutes commentary of the game on Blues World.
 
The official website, bcfc.com, will have a match report available minutes after the final whistle along with McLeish's post-match comments.

TICKETS

Blues have sold 3,000 tickets for the game.

Nottingham Forest will now be selling tickets on the day of the game, but tickets will increase by £2.00 per person on matchday.

Ticket Prices on Saturday
Adult - £29.00
Senior (Over 60) - £21.00
Full Time Students (must have a valid NUS card which must be shown on match day) & Under 18's - £14.00
Under 12's - £8.00