Alex McLeish has admitted he has a selection dilemma over whether to start with Kevin Phillips for tomorrow night's trip to West Ham United.

The former West Brom hot shot gave the Blues manager a timely reminder of his predatory prowess when he climbed off the bench to fire two goals past Wolves on Sunday and win his side maximum points from a game that seemed to be ebbing away from them.

After his weekend heroics, and with Christian Benitez definitely ruled out through injury, Phillips would appear the natural choice to partner Cameron Jerome in attack.

But McLeish feels Phillips can sometimes be more effective as a substitute coming on towards the end of a game against defences that are tiring and the Blues boss revealed that he was still deliberating over his choice of team for Upton Park.

"It's not an easy decision because Kevin's confidence will be sky high after his contribution at the weekend," said McLeish.

"But I spoke to Kevin at the start of the season about how I see his role and I felt he would be better as an impact player for us this season when defences are getting a little tired. If we can pin the opposition back in their own box then there's no one better to have at your disposal than Kevin Phillips.

"I'll talk to Kevin and we'll be adult and grown up about it and whether I feel I'll be doing him a favour by starting him in games. You never know he might start banging in goals from the start of games as well, but my tactical brain and my experience tells me he may be more effective using him the way we did at the weekend."

Blues have found goals hard to come by this season with an average of just one a game in the Barclays Premier League game but McLeish is not overly concerned because the team has been creating opportunities.

He continued: "I've always believed there is a goal in us. I know we've not scored a lot of goals. I think it was ten up until Sunday at home and that's not a great return but I've felt that we've created a lot of chances this season although we have missed a lot, no doubt about it.

"But starting Kevin doesn't mean to say that all of sudden we're going to start scoring goals. There's no evidence that would be the case. I've started Kevin in games before this season and it hasn't quite worked out for us and he started the Stoke game earlier this season.

"Defences are more concentrated at the start of games and much sharper. When you bring on Kevin Phillips late in the game, who is coming off the bench sharp and bright and defenders are tiring then it's a great tactic."

Phillips, 36, spoke of his desire to prolong his career by at least another season after his match-winning brace on Sunday. The striker's current deal expires this summer but McLeish said it was too early to start negotiations on a new contract.

He said: "I don't think there's any need to discuss that at the moment. Let's see how the season goes. There's a challenge there for Kevin just the same as there's a challenge there for the rest of the players."