Gregory Vignal

Alex McLeish's Blues side will be looking to build on their excellent win against Hull City as they host Gary Megson's Bolton Wanderers at St. Andrew's on Saturday.

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

TEAM NEWS
Blues
McLeish is able to welcome back a number of players for the Trotters game.

Teemu Tainio missed Tuesday night's Carling Cup game against Sunderland because he was cup tied.

Stephen Carr, Lee Carsley, Sebastian Larsson and Gregory Vignal are all back in contention for starting places after recovering from injuries.

Still absent are Marcus Bent (hamstring), Cameron Jerome (ankle), James McFadden (thigh), David Murphy (knee), Franck Queudrue (hamstring) and Martin Taylor (ankle).

Stuart Parnaby is doubtful with a knee problem.

Fabrice Muamba

Bolton
The only definite absentee for Megson's side is midfielder Sean Davis who will be out for the long term after undergoing knee surgery.

Johan Elmander, Ricardo Gardner and Ivan Klasnic are pushing to start.

Returning to St. Andrew's for the first time since his move to the Reebok is former Blues midfielder Fabrice Muamba.

FORM GUIDE
Blues sit in 11th place in the Barclays Premier League, with two wins and draw from six outings.

Blues exited the League Cup at Sunderland on Tuesday

A well-below strength Blues side were knocked out of the Carling Cup in midweek; however with several players having recovered from injury McLeish will be looking for a repeat of the performance which saw them overcome Hull 1-0 in their last league game.

Meanwhile Bolton have won three, drawn one and lost one of their last five games.

The most recent outing saw them beat West Ham United 3-1 after extra time in the third round of the Carling Cup.

However their league form so far has been disappointing with just a solitary win against Portsmouth and they sit in 16th place with just four points.

Alex McLeish

MANAGER'S COMMENTS
Blues boss Alex McLeish
"These are the games we target to ultimately stay in the Premier League or climb up the table.

"Trying to win these games is very important.

"We can't just say 'it's the start of the season' because we've got to be really up for these games as soon as possible and pick up as many wins as we can as early as we can in this Premier League and try and climb as high as we can away from the danger zone as soon as we can.

"Bolton are a difficult side to beat.

"They play in a certain way and have some quality players in their ranks.

"Matthew Taylor has been known to score a few goals for them over the years and of course we know the threat of Davies, Elmander and Klasnic who has come in from Croatia.

"He was a really potent striker a couple of years ago before he had an illness but he's finding his feet in England.

"They've a lot of terrific players Bolton and they are a much more experienced Premier League team than my Birmingham team are."

Gary Megson

Bolton boss Gary Megson
"In general our performances have been fine and we have had one poor half against Stoke.

"We have that momentum, the players' confidence should be high and we go to St Andrew's in good spirits.

"We are doing well in the Carling Cup and it was good to get the win against West Ham.

"The players showed great character and determination.

"We also go there having scored nine goals in our last four games.

"From that point of view we are pleased, but we could do with scoring a few more goals from areas that we aren't.

"We need to improve on conceding goals as well.

"Birmingham's start has been solid and they got a great result at Hull City last week.

"They have changed their shape a little bit and have gone with five players across the middle of the park and trying to push Lee Bowyer forward to join the one striker that they have got up front.

"It is making them a lot harder to play against but they have only scored three goals.

"From our own point of view, I know that it will be tough to break them down.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS
Over the years Bolton have the edge in clashes between the two sides clocking up 44 league wins compared to Blues' 37, 31 have ended in a draw.

Form in recent years is pretty even, the last occasions the clubs met saw a 3-0 win for Bolton at the Reebok Stadium in December 2007 which was preceded by a 1-0 win for Blues at St. Andrew's in September of that year.

Olivier Kapo scored the only goal for Steve Bruce's men.

Referee Steve Bennett

MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Referee Steve Bennett will take charge of Saturday's game at St. Andrew's.

The Kent-based official has refereed five games so far this season, in which he has produced a total of 14 yellow cards, but no reds.

The last time he took charge of Blues game was back in April 2008 when Blues were held to a 1-1 draw at St. Andrew's by Everton in a Premier League fixture.

On that occasion Mr Bennett booked two players - Medhi Nafti for Blues and Lee Carsley who was then with Everton.

Mr Bennett will be assisted by Andy Halliday from North Yorkshire and Martin Yerby from Kent.

BETTING
Blues are narrow favourites to win Saturday's encounter at odds of 6/5 with bet365. The draw is priced at 9/4 and a Bolton win at 12/5.

A 1-0 win to Blues, with Christian Benitez scoring first is on offer at 30/1.

For the full range of Bets available with Bet365, please click here. Remember every bet you make helps the club.

MATCH COMMENTARY
You can listen to full 90 minutes commentary from St. Andrew's on Blues Player.

To access Blues player, please click here.

The official website, bcfc.com, will have a match report available minutes after the final whistle along with McLeish's post-match comments.

WEATHER FORECAST
The weather for Saturday in Birmingham is predicted to be sunny intervals with a maximum temperature of 19 degrees Centigrade.

TICKETS
By way of thanks to supporters for their loyalty over the last 16 years, the board have reduced the prices for the Bolton fixture on Saturday 26 September to JUST £15 for adults, £10 for concessions and £5 for under 12's. THIS IS THE LOWEST BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE PRICE THIS SEASON! 

Click here for full details. 

There will also be cash turnstiles available on Saturday - they will be numbers 45 and 46 in the Gil Merrick Lower Tier.