Larsson boost for Blues

Birmingham midfielder Sebastian Larsson is winning his battle to be fit for the Barclays Premier League bottom-six clash at Reading.

The Sweden international was substituted at half-time against Newcastle with a knee injury but has not suffered ligament damage as was first feared.

Martin Taylor is available again after serving his three-match ban for the red card against Arsenal after his tackle resulted in Eduardo sustaining a broken leg. But he is unlikely to be considered by Blues boss Alex McLeish, who is happy with the current centre-back pairing of Liam Ridgewell and Radhi Jaidi.

Team (from): Maik Taylor, Kelly, Ridgewell, Jaidi, Murphy, Larsson, Johnson, Muamba, McSheffrey, Forssell, McFadden, Parnaby, Schmitz, Nafti, Jerome, Doyle, O’Connor, De Ridder.