Injury woes for Birmingham

Birmingham are facing an injury crisis ahead of tomorrow’s FA Cup replay with Reading with three players undergoing scans today to determine the extent of injuries sustained against Arsenal at the weekend.

Matthew Upson (groin), Olivier Tebily (knee) and Muzzy Izzet (calf) are all sweating on their respective setbacks which could further hit the squad to face Steve Coppell’s side.

Kenny Cunningham (groin), Martin Taylor (ankle), Stan Lazaridis (groin), David Dunn (calf), Neil Kilkenny (ankle) and Mehdi Nafti (knee) are already sidelined.

In addition Emile Heskey and Damien Johnson will miss the replay through suspension, newcomer DJ Campbell is cup-tied and Martin Latka is ineligible as he signed for the club after the first game between the two teams at the Madejski Stadium.

Chris Sutton and Nicky Butt also picked up knocks in the defeat against the Gunners but are likely to be available for selection.

Blues coach Eric Black admitted: “I think we’ve got about 14 or 15 players that might not be available to play on Tuesday.

“We are going to have to assess everything on Tuesday afternoon as we are waiting on scans and 24 hour recoveries. We might have one or two that are better by Tuesday.”