Birmingham City v Palace

St Andrews, Saturday 3.00pm

Mile Jedinak

Team news

Crystal Palace's Aussie midfielder Mile Jedinak sits the game out with a one-match ban after collecting five bookings this season.

Eagles boss Ian Holloway will replace him with either Andre Moritz, Stuart O'Keefe or David Wright in the centre of the park.

Jon Williams is back in training after his recent groin injury and Joel Ward could come in for Darcy Blake after recovering from illness. Club captain Paddy McCarthy is still sidelined with a groin problem.

Former Palace midfielder Hayden Mullins misses out for Birmingham due to suspension after picking up his fifth yellow of the season last weekend. Midfielder Papa Bouba Diop could come in.

Another old Eagle, Darren Ambrose, is out with a knee injury, while Jonathan Spector (ankle) is missing too. Full-backs David Murphy and Stephen Carr (both knee) plus striker Akwasi Asante (hamstring) are still out. However, Pablo Ibanez and Nikola Zigic return.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

“I’m learning more about the team each day, and I know that to sustain this momentum we’ve got to get stronger. With Jonathan Williams coming back in the next couple of weeks, that will give me another option. He’s a wonderful little footballer.

“I want to do everything I can to keep this momentum going forward and test everybody on that pitch. One or two of them are playing week-in, week-out and they have no pressure behind them. We have got that in certain areas but we haven’t got it everywhere. I would like to add a bit of meat to that come January.

“It’s real disappointing [against Blackpool] because we looked a shadow of how we’ve played recently. We almost wasted the first 45 minutes. We managed to get in at half-time and have a little word, and in the second half the team created lots more, that was more like us. But overall it is disappointing and we have dropped two points there.

"I don’t need to talk about Wilf [Zaha]. I want to talk about Yannick Bolasie. Wilf is a young man and I’m getting fed up of everybody talking about it as if we are a one-player team. We have got some brilliant players. Murray, Jedinak, Dikgacoi at right-back looked like he grew there.

"We are a very solid group but the group has to get stronger and what I’m saying is we won’t get weaker. The board won’t let us get weaker, we are going to get stronger."

Aaron Wilbraham

"I've got to be patient really. I wanted to play at Hull but it's the manager's decision. I came on and felt like I did well, but the manager spoke to me and said I'm a big part of his plans.

"I've just got to do my bit for the team when I come on late on in a game, but I'm enjoying it, we're doing really well and the spirit is always good when you're doing well.

"No matter whether I start or come off the bench, I'll always give 100 per cent. I've been around the leagues, I know what football is about and you've just got to give your best at all times.

"The manager's given everyone a lift. The enthusiasm he's got rubs off on everyone and he's just come in and told us all to stay positive and that he doesn't want any negativity.

"No matter what happens, we've just got to keep playing the we're playing and the results will come – since he's joined, it's really gone well.

"Sometimes you get football clubs where the assistant manager does a lot of the coaching, but both he and Dougie like to get involved and take quite a bit of the training as well as their coaches do, so they're similar in that way.

"But I think Ian Holloway's enthusiasm has given the lads a lift since he took over and he has banter with us. I think when he took over, he didn't want to make drastic changes and I think he's just come in and added his bits to it and it's working well."

Birmingham City - league stats

Full league table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
07/04/2012	League	Birmingham City	3 - 1	Crystal Palace
19/12/2011	League	Crystal Palace	1 - 0	Birmingham City
24/02/2009	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 0	Birmingham City
21/10/2008	League	Birmingham City	1 - 0	Crystal Palace
17/02/2007	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 1	Birmingham City

All time results

Last meeting

Birmingham City 3-1 Palace

Saturday April 07 2012

Birmingham City: Myhill, Murphy, Ramage, Davies, Caldwell, Burke, Fahey (N'Daw, 83), Mutch, Townsend, King (Rooney, 88), Zigic (Huseklepp, 46)

Subs not used: Redmond, Doyle

Goals: Burke (21), Fahey (22), Murphy (32)

Bookings: N'Daw

Palace: Speroni, McCarthy, Moxey, Clyne, Ambrose (Martin, 76), Garvan, Dikgacoi, O'Keefe (Murray, 81), Parr, Easter (Scannell, 66), Zaha

Subs not used: Price, Inniss

Goals: Garvan (45)

Bookings: McCarthy, Moxey

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