McFadden and Larsson face fitness tests

Birmingham City will give late fitness tests to striker James McFadden and midfielder Sebastian Larsson before manager Alex McLeish finalises his side for Sunday’s derby at Aston Villa.

McFadden and Larsson both picked up knee problems during last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Everton.

Mauro Zarate is on standby to replace McFadden while midfielder Olivier Kapo could return after a seven match absence with a hamstring strain.

Birmingham are still without their Northern Ireland international midfielder Damien Johnson, who is serving the second game of the three match suspension he picked up after being sent-off at Wigan, and central defender Martin Taylor who has a hamstring strain.

Birmingham City (from): Maik Taylor, Kelly, Jaidi, Ridgewell, Murphy, McSheffrey, Nafti, Muamba, Larsson, Forssell, McFadden, Schmitz, O’Connor, Jerome, Queudrue, Zarate, Parnaby, Kapo, Doyle.