Town have an injury concern regarding full-back David Wright ahead of the Boxing Day home game with Birmingham City. Better news is that Owen Garvan and Ben Thatcher are back from one-match bans.

Thatcher could come straight back into the side if Wright's hamstring problem keeps him out of the team and with a number of games close together over the Christmas period, the Blues are unlikely to take a risk on the former Crewe and Wigan man

Alex Bruce serves the third game of a four-match ban, so Gareth McAuley and Richard Naylor will continue at the centre of the defence. Moritz Volz will be on the right.

Boss Jim Magilton as usual has a number of options in midfield. The central three which did well against Coventry – David Norris, Alan Quinn and Tommy Miller – will all feel that they deserve to keep their places, depending on the formation the Town manager utilises.

While the 4-5-1/4-3-3 worked well at Coventry, a switch back to 4-4-2 may be on the cards for a home game with Quinn perhaps moving to the left. David Norris could be used in the centre or on the right, depending on whether Jon Walters returns to the side in either midfield or up front.

The right-side of midfield seems a more likely role for last season's Player of the Year with Norris and Miller perhaps keeping their places in the centre, while Owen Garvan and Veliche Shumulikoski will also come into the reckoning, having been Magilton's preferred central two for much of the season so far.

Up front, Kevin Lisbie's two goals last week will see him keep his place with Jon Stead probably his strike partner. Danny Haynes and Pablo Couñago will be looking to come off the bench later in the game.

Magilton failed to attend Friday's pre-match press conference, having angrily walked out a week ago, and sent first team coach Bryan Klug instead. However, the Town manager told the club site that his side need to get back to home form after the recent defeat to Cardiff: "I'm looking forward to the Birmingham game and so are my players.

"We know we need to perform at home and there is no better game to do it than on Boxing Day against a team that has Premier League quality in it.

"We played Birmingham a couple of years ago and beat them 1-0 at our place, so a repeat of that performance would be very welcome.

"Birmingham beat us at their place last month and Alex told me that they played their best 30 minutes since he has been in charge against us, which is just our luck.

"They have a lot of quality in their team but we go into the game with confidence coming back into the side.

"Steve Foley and myself watched Coventry play at Charlton on a horrible night a couple of weeks ago and after watching them we thought that the set-up we used at the Ricoh Arena would allow us some fluidity.

"It worked well and encouraged us to get players on the ball and that helped the confidence flow back into the side, although we know there is more to come from us."

Magilton singled out Kevin Phillips as a particular threat in the Birmingham side: "Everything that is spoken about Kevin is richly deserved. He is an outstanding individual and a wonderful team player by all accounts.

"I would have liked him here when it was clear he was going to leave West Brom in the summer, but he was out of our range.

"We kept him quiet when he came to Portman Road with West Brom last season [when he came on as a 66th minute sub as Town won 2-0] and we need to repeat that on Boxing Day, and then look to play our own brand of football."

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish has a concern regarding key midfielder Seb Larsson, who has a groin injury, but says that no decision will be made on the Swede until the latest possible moment: "Larsson wasn't 100 per cent at the weekend [during the 3-1 home defeat to Reading] but he felt fine to play.

"I know that some players can get away with 90 odd per cent and still give of their best, but you can see that he definitely wasn't quite at his best.

"We're going to nurture him this week and see if he's going to be available to play we'll make a late decision on him, but he's a doubt."

Scotland international James McFadden was also not on top form against the Royals, which McLeish puts down to illness: "James felt great last week and trained really well during the week but he had a little bit of a stomach bug at the weekend which is maybe why you didn't see him at his best.

"That is why I'm looking for a huge impression for Friday's game from James McFadden."

Central defender Liam Ridgewell is back after a one-match ban, which is likely to see Franck Queudrue switch to left-back with David Murphy dropping to the bench. Nigel Quashie has had his loan from West Ham extended for a further month.

McLeish says he is determined that his side, now third in the table behind Wolves and weekend opponents Reading, should return to form against the Blues: "We've got to get into gear and Ipswich is the next target.

"They say that titles can be won or lost at this time of year and we've got to get back on track.

"But certainly, the boys in that dressing room, they have done well in amassing 47 points, they have showed the character, showed the spirit. And they are hurting.

"We lost to a team who are going to be up there, and I believe we are going to be up there fighting with them to get back to the Premier League too.

"Of course, it would have been nice going into the Boxing Day encounter with Ipswich with a victory.

"But it never happened, and you have to keep a sense of reality about the whole thing.

"That result has to be put to the back of our minds now and we have to move forward with it and get better at certain things, like set-pieces for instance, where we've conceded a few goals this season. That's not acceptable, there's been too many.”

Marcus Bent is the only former Blue in the Birmingham squad at present, although Kevin Phillips famously almost joined Town prior to signing for Sunderland in the summer of 1997. Alex Bruce was a Birmingham player during his father's time as manager at St Andrew's.

Historically, the Blues have had the better of Birmingham, winning 30 times (27 in the league), drawing 11 (11) and losing 25 (19). A month ago, goals from Liam Ridgewell and Kevin Phillips gave the Midlanders a 2-1 victory over Town, Alex Bruce netting a late goal against his former club.

The most recent match between the sides at Portman Road came on New Year's Day 2007 when Gavin Williams scored the only goal in the final minute.

Boxing Day's referee is Iain Williamson from Berkshire, who has shown 75 yellow and four red cards in 16 games so far this season. Williamson's last Town match was the 2-1 away win at Scunthorpe last season in which he red-carded Pablo Couñago and Iron midfielder Jack Cork.

His previous Town match prior to that was the game at Coventry just after last Christmas when he sent Tommy Miller off for a second bookable offence with video evidence subsequently showing that the midfielder made no contact with the player he was alleged to have fouled.

Probable squad: R Wright, Supple. D Wright, Volz, Thatcher, McAuley, Naylor, Balkestein, Norris, Miller, Quinn, Garvan, Shumulikoski, Quinn, Ambrose, Walters, Lisbie, Couñago, Haynes.

Photo: Action Images

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