Blues pair could miss out

Birmingham goalkeeper Maik Taylor and skipper Kenny Cunningham could miss the bottom-of-the-table Barclays Premiership clash at Sunderland.

Taylor has made costly errors in the previous two matches against Everton and Newcastle and he is facing strong competition from Nico Vaesen.

Cunningham operated at right-back in those two matches but the return of Mario Melchiot and the impressive form in the heart of the defence of Martin Taylor leaves him sweating over whether he will be in the starting line-up.

Striker Mikael Forssell (calf) and long-term knee injury victim Mehdi Nafti are the only casualties, with the likes of David Dunn, Damien Johnson and Nicky Butt back in contention.

Team (from): Maik Taylor, Vaesen, Melchiot, Cunningham, Martin Taylor, Clapham, Pennant, Kilkenny, Johnson, Butt, Izzet, Dunn, Lazaridis, Gray, Pandiani, Jarosik, Heskey.