A full preview of Saturday's Championship game between Blues and Nottingham Forest at St. Andrew's.

TEAM NEWS
Blues
Blues will be without Stuart Parnaby (thigh) Garry O'Connor (groin), James McFadden (knee) and Kemy Agustien (groin).

Gary McSheffrey is fit and available to play.

New loan signing Djimi Traore is not likely to figure until he gets up to full match fitness.

James Perch

Forest
Forest skipper James Perch is in line for recall after missing his side's last game with concussion.

Nathan Tyson has also declared himself fit despite picking up a nasty cut above his eye last weekend which required 18 stitches.

Joel Lynch could also return to Billy Davies' squad after a four-match absence with a back injury.

Missing will be leading scorer Rob Earnshaw, Julian Bennett, Paul Anderson and Guy Moussi.

FORM GUIDE
Blues still remain in third place in the Championship table with 57 points from their 31 games.

Forest meanwhile are just above the relegation zone in 18th place with 34 points.

Alex McLeish's side have won one, drawn three and lost one of their last five games.

Their most recent fixture saw them held 1-1 by Burnley at St. Andrew's.

Forest have been on a good run of late in the Championship, having won three, drawn one and lost one of their last five League games.

In their last match they picked up a point in a 2-2 draw against QPR at the City Ground.

Alex McLeish

MANAGER COMMENTS
Alex McLeish
When we played Forest earlier in the season they gave us a hard time and I don't expect anything different now that Billy is in charge. 

They were certainly in our face that day and I think they actually reminded us of that, the day after in the Sunday papers, so I'd like to think that my players can keep that in their heads going into the game.

We've got to try and get three points.

I'm not really concerned about what Forest do.

I'm more concerned about my own team and making sure we don't have the start from hell we had last week and get back to winning ways.

Forest will be a tough nut to crack and they're on a good run with Billy and he's got them going but we're confident.

It's time we put together a sustained run and we're capable of doing it.

We need to start scoring more goals to help Kevin Phillips.

A couple of the other strikers need to start hitting the back of the net and getting nine or ten goals.

James McFadden

LAST TWO MEETINGS
Forest 1 Blues 1
Saturday 8th November 2008

James McFadden notched his second goal of the season before James Perch headed a second half equaliser as the teams played out a draw in the reverse fixture at the City Ground back in November.

A hard-fought encounter saw the visitors start brightly and McFadden's neat 13th minute finish was the least they deserved.

McFadden was quickest to react to Bent's clever flick and danced around the floundering Lee Camp before rolling the ball home from a tight angle.

Blues were in control in the opening stages, but the game became more stretched in the second half and it was Forest who capitalised from some sloppy defending from Chris Cohen's free-kick which allowed Perch in to grab the leveller.

Blues 1 Forest 1
Tuesday 1st January 2002

Forest's last visit to St. Andrew's was a New Year's Day encounter back in 2002.

Tommy Mooney

Steve Bruce had recently taken over at the Blues' helm and the team's promotion charge, which would eventually see them enjoy play-off final success, had started to build momentum with three straight wins over the festive period.

But Paul Hart's visitors also came into the game after back-to-back victories themselves and it proved to be a tight contest in which the teams eventually had to settle for a point apiece.

The game just about survived a pitch inspection after snow was cleared from the pitch on a freezing cold day and players struggled to keep their feet on the icy surface.

Blues took a fifth minute lead. Geoff Horsfield's cross was palmed away by keeper Darren Ward but the ball dropped to Tommy Mooney who slotted home from close range.

THE MAN IN THE MIDDLE

Referee Graham Laws will take charge of the game.

The Tyne and Wear based official has refereed a total of 25 games so far this season, where has issued 48 yellow cards and three reds.

The last time he took charge of a Blues game was back in April 2007 when Blues beat Wolves 3-2 at Molineux.

On that occasion he booked eight players, including Stephen Clemence, Radhi Jaidi, Gary McSheffrey and Fabrice Muamba for Blues.

Mr Laws will be assisted by Stuart Burt from Northamptonshire and Gary Young from Bedfordshire.

BETTING
Blues are strong favourites to win the game at odds of 3/4 with Bet365, the draw is available at 5/2 and a Forest win at 15/4.

If you're looking for a scorecast a 2-1 win to Blues is on offer at 7/1 and the same scoreline with Kevin Phillips netting the first goal can be had at 30/1.

For the full range of bets available, please click here.

WEATHER FORECAST
The weather forecast for tomorrow at St. Andrew's is sunny intervals, with a maxim temperature of 5 degrees Centigrade.

MATCH COMMENTARY
If you can't make it to St. Andrew's, 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.

TICKET DETAILS
This game is pay on the day.

Tickets are available priced from £22 for adults, £15 for concessions and £9 for under 12's.

Click here for full details.