Saints bring relegation reality home to Blues

"Southampton have a great name and pedigree but, over the last couple of years, it has been difficult for them," Birmingham manager Alex McLeish said. "The Championship is littered with teams like Southampton who have been in the Premier League and it just shows how difficult it is to get back up.

"That is no disrespect to the teams who haven't returned, you have to compliment the Championship and how competitive it is. It can be brutal sometimes to try to get back into the Premier League."

Southampton, under new manager Jan Poortvliet following the sacking of Nigel Pearson during the summer, started the season with a 2-1 defeat at Cardiff City last weekend and many are tipping them for another tough nine months but McLeish is expecting a hard battle at St Mary's.

"St Mary's isn't an easy place to go to and we have to be at our very best to get the points. We will go for all three points but we will have to play well," he said. "It is character-building to have to go to places like Southampton and try to win, not just this weekend in the league but in the cup as well [The teams have been drawn together in the second round of the Carling Cup]. We are capable of doing it and we have the belief after recent performances."

Wednesday night's 4-0 Carling Cup victory over Wycombe Wanderers was Blues' first competitive away win since McLeish's first game in charge when Sebastian Larsson gave him a dream start with a stunning winning goal at Tottenham Hotspur. Since that Sunday afternoon last December, the majority of Blues' away matches have been bleak affairs and McLeish admits confidence took a beating.

However, he believes there is a different mind-set this season. "I like to think we have learned from last season away from home but we also have some new players who don't know anything about that record," he said.

"We did have some bright and gritty performances away from home in the early stages after my arrival. After that, we lost a bit of confidence. It is a new chapter and we need to go away from home with belief that we can get three points.

"We struggled last season in terms of clean sheets but we actually defended well overall. We always made one error that was punished.

"It is nice to see two clean sheets already, it's great for the goalkeepers and the defenders. They take great pride, as I did as a player, in getting shut-outs. The strikers get all the bragging rights for the winning goal but we tell the defenders they are just as important."

McLeish has an almost fully-fit squad as David Murphy, substituted on Wednesday after tweaking a groin injury, should be fit while fellow defenders Stephen Kelly and Rahdi Jaidi have also returned from injury.