Sebastian Larsson hopes the return of several key players from injury will give the Blues squad a timely boost ahead of the end of season run-in.

Boss Alex McLeish was able to call on Garry O'Connor from the start after five months out with a groin problem against Norwich on Saturday while top scorer Kevin Phillips and defender David Murphy came off the bench for their first appearances in more than a month.

Garry O'Connor returned to the starting line-up against Norwich

And with a cluster of first-team stars, including striker James McFadden, also edging closer to a return when the squad regroups after the international break, Larsson is confident they can make a difference in the final six matches of the season.

"We've had lot of bad luck with injuries this season with key players going down at unfortunate times," said the Swede.

"I think sometimes that gets overlooked, but that's no excuse as we have a good squad of players here who have managed to get us into the top two going into the final phase of the season.

"Instead, we have to take confidence from the fact that these key players are either back in the picture again or very close to returning from injury and that could set us up very nicely for the run-in."

Larsson admits this season has been a stop-start campaign on a personal level, but feels he's beginning to find the form that made him the indisputable Blues' Player of the Season in 2007/08.

"I wasn't happy with the way I started the season at all and then slowly I felt I was getting better before I broke down injured - that was immensely frustrating.

"Lately I think I've got my form back again and feel I'm starting to play to my full ability and hopefully I can carry that on for the rest of the season.

"Having a player of Stephen Carr's experience and ability behind me has certainly given me confidence. He knows his position inside-out and having not played for such a long time I think he's surprised everyone with how well he's slotted into the team, probably including himself."

The 23-year-old is currently away with the Sweden squad preparing for their crucial World Cup Qualifier against Portugal in Porto on Saturday before facing a friendly match against Serbia in Belgrade four days later.

With six caps to his name so far, he's featured in each of his nation's qualifiers since making a solitary substitute appearance at EURO 2008 and feels more of a regular in the squad with each game.

He added: "To represent Sweden is a big thing for me and fortunately I've managed to keep my place in the team.

"We have a very tight group, up against Denmark and Portugal especially, but I'm confident we can do it.

"We've started pretty well having won one and drawn two of our opening three games. We play Portugal next week, they haven't started too well and having already drawn against them we believe we are capable of beating them this time."