Birmingham City v. Bolton Wanderers

The home results have not been the issue for Bolton Wanderers. After three games at the Reebok, Bolton have amassed seven points, scored six goals, and allowed three. It's the away games that we worry about. In two matches far from the Reebok so far, the Trotters have zero points, have scored just one goal, and allowed five.

On Tuesday, Bolton Wanderers will travel to St. Andrews to face a Birmingham side that reached last season's Championship Playoff semi final. The blues have a new manager though and have not found things easy to start the season, recording only one victory so far on the year.

Bolton Wanderers luckily have no new injury concerns ahead of the Birmingham match aside from the usual suspects of David Wheater, Josh Vela, and Stuart Holden, all sidelined with knee injuries. The biggest worry was David Ngog who had apparently pulled up on his hamstring in Saturday's 2-1 win against Watford and asked to be subbed off. Expect Owen Coyle to name the same side that won at the weekend.

Meanwhile, Birmingham City will be without captain Stephen Carr for the next six months. The skipper had surgery to correct a knee problem and will be sidelined for the relatively distant future. The Blues are also doubtful about Darren Ambrose's fitness after he missed the weekend's match against Nottingham Forest. Good news for Birmingham though as Nikola Zigic and Curtis Davies both expect to make their return in some capacity.

The match will be a milestone for Zat Knight unless he is sidelined unexpectedly. The big central defender is set to make his 100th league appearance for Bolton Wanderers.

Following the win at Watford, manager Owen Coyle had nothing but good things to say about new man Jay Spearing:

"He went in for a minor operation during the international break. Tuesday morning he is the first in, ready for training. That epitomises the spirit we look for in Bolton Wanderers.

"The fans have taken to him and no wonder because he covers every blade of grass. He is such a terrific passer of the ball and he has the heart the size of a lion."

Coyle also knows that Bolton must improve away from home:

"We also recognise that there are one or two things that we will look to do better. There have been a lot of pleasing aspects so far but we know there are also areas in which we can improve.

"We have got to understand that we are five games into a 46-match season and we are four points from where we want to be in the automatic places.