Mick McCarthy says it's no surprise to him that Nottingham Forest, who the Blues face at the City Ground this evening, are currently eighth in the Championship (KO 7.45pm). Skipper Carlos Edwards is a doubt with a groin problem suffered in the 1-0 victory over Leicester on Saturday, while striker David McGoldrick is unavailable against his parent club.
Forest have climbed into the top eight since Billy Davies returned as manager having struggled during Alex McLeish’s brief reign following Sean O’Driscoll’s surprise departure, something which doesn’t surprise McCarthy one bit: "Nottingham Forest have got a really good squad of players.
"They should have been up there. But they were, Sean O’Driscoll had them up there, he was a point or something from the play-offs when he got the tin tack, which was bizarre. And they’ve finally got the man back, Billy Davies, and he’s doing it for them.”
The Blues boss knows a number of that squad well from his time as manager at Sunderland and Wolves: "Andy Reid, Danny Collins, Adlene Guedioura, they’re a really good team. They’ve a good squad of players.”
He’s not sure why manager Davies has done so well — they've won their last three games — since returning to the club he left in June 2011 a month ago.
"He’s got a personality, Billy,” McCarthy said. "His personality is bigger than him, to be fair!
"His teams are competitive, they play good football, he seems to get the best out of them, he’s always at the promotion end of the Championship.
"He had Preston in the play-offs I don’t know how many times, same with Nottingham Forest. I don’t know [why he’s turned things around so quickly], maybe he’s just picked players in the right slots for their ability and for what they do.
"They played a diamond on Saturday and were excellent against Sheffield Wednesday [who they beat 1-0]. They battered them for 45 minutes. Again, it’s another manager that’s gone into a club and had an impact. He’s done well.”
He says he and Davies get on well — once a game is over: "Billy wants to win. He’ll be up on the touchline, he’ll be giving his two-penneth and no doubt I’ll be giving mine, but Billy’s a pal of mine and I’ve never fallen out with him.
"You can have words on the sidelines but he’s one of those good characters, you can go and have a beer with him afterwards, he’s a good guy.”
The Town manager admits that he’d be happy with a point: "Yeah, if you get him on the phone and he wants to, we won’t bother travelling. I keep telling you that, but it doesn’t happen!
"We’re not going to try and get a draw, we’re going to try and win the game but, yes, I’d take a draw because winning at home and drawing away is a good recipe.”
He agrees that Saturday’s victory over Leicester will put his team in the right frame of mind going into the match but believes Forest will feel similarly after their result and display against the Owls: "Of course it does, but there’s be someone up there in Nottingham saying ‘The manner of your win at Sheffield Wednesday, the way you played, will put you in great heart for a team coming up to see you’.
"But, from our point of view, it was a hard-earned, proper, disciplined performance and then we had that one bit of quality.
"They had a better chance than us, Harry Kane had a much better chance and missed it. And then Dids gets his chance and finishes it. I have to say I don’t know how he got it in that gap, to be honest with you.”
The 3-1 home victory over Forest towards the end of November was one of the most memorable results of the McCarthy era so far and he would be happy with a repeat of that performance.
"We were excellent on the night, it was a really good victory that,” he recalled. "They were doing OK at the time, but they’ve had a real resurgence under Billy and are playing very well at the moment.”
The Town boss has to make at least one change with McGoldrick unavailable. Daryl Murphy would appear to be ahead of Aaron Mclean and Frank Nouble for that role alongside Michael Chopra, who McCarthy has confirmed will start against one of his former loan clubs.
At the back, the Blues manager has said the back five picks itself and so Stephen Henderson will be in goal, Aaron Cresswell at left-back, Richard Stearman at right-back and Tommy Smith and former Forest skipper Luke Chambers at centre-half.
In midfield, Lee Martin, another ex-Forest loanee, will be on the left with Guirane N’Daw and Luke Hyam in the centre.
McCarthy is unlikely to want to risk skipper Edwards if there is any concern regarding his groin injury with an important game at Peterborough on Saturday, so Jay Emmanuel-Thomas could come in for his first league start since the current manager took over.
Reece Brown could be on the bench for the Blues for the first time with McGoldrick, one of the six domestic loanees, absent.
For Forest, one-time Blues loanee Danny Collins, who wears the armband at the City Ground, will be assessed having been replaced with blurred vision late on during Saturday’s 1-0 victory at Sheffield Wednesday.
Another defender, ex-Colchester man Greg Halford, is banned, striker Marcus Tudgay is sidelined with a broken collarbone and centre-halves Daniel Ayala and Sam Hutchinson are back in training but not yet ready to return to action. Striker Darius Henderson is also a doubt having missed the trip to Hillsborough.
The current Forest squad includes ex-Blues defenders Dan Harding and Danny Collins, who was on loan with Town last season.
Luke Chambers joined Town on a Bosman free transfer after departing Forest in the summer, while the ineligible David McGoldrick is on loan from the Tricky Trees until the end of the season when he will join Town on a two-year deal.
Scott Loach was an academy schoolboy with his hometown club after leaving the Blues’ youth set-up when his family relocated back to the Midlands.
Lee Martin was on loan at Forest in 2008/09, while Michael Chopra made three Forest starts and two sub appearances without scoring in 2004 when on loan from Newcastle.
One-time Town coach and caretaker-manager Charlie McParland is now Forest’s U21s manager.
Historically, the home team very much have the upper hand, winning 33 of the games between the two sides (30 in the league), 14 (13) ending in draws and Town winning 19 (18). It's just over 13 years since Town last won at the City Ground.
In November at Portman Road, Guirane N’Daw, Luke Hyam and Daryl Murphy were on target as Town climbed out of the bottom three by beating Forest 3-1.
Visitors’ keeper Lee Camp — now with Norwich - should already have been sent off before he and ex-Blues loanee Danny Collins failed to deal with a long ball and N’Daw netted his first goal for Town.
Dexter Blackstock equalised for the visitors after the break but Hyam slammed in his first for the Blues after DJ Campbell’s penalty had been saved and Murphy added the third late on.
Last time out at the City Ground, in December 2011, Town fell to their second 3-2 defeat in two games as Forest netted twice in the last six minutes to come from behind to deny the Blues victory.
Danny Collins — then with Town - scored two goals in a game for the first time in his professional career, putting the Blues in front twice, but Robbie Findley equalised for the home side before the break, then Joel Lynch and Marcus Tudgay netted another leveller and the winner in injury time.
Tonight’s referee is David Webb from Lancashire, who has shown 79 yellow cards and three red in 26 games so far this season. Webb’s last Town game was the 1-0 home victory over Derby in December 2011 in which he booked only two visiting players.
Squad from: Henderson, Loach, Stearman, Hewitt, Cresswell, Mings, Kisnorbo, Chambers, Smith, Brown, N’Daw, Drury, Hyam, Martin, Edwards, Emmanuel-Thomas, Murphy, Chopra, Mclean, Nouble.