Alex McLeish has challenged his Birmingham players to secure a top-10 finish in the Barclays Premier League. Blues are currently lying ninth and have been in the top half of the table for five months after being tipped pre-season by bookmakers and pundits to be relegation certainties.

"There are teams coming up on the rails like Everton and Fulham. Blackburn have had a great run of results and Sunderland and Stoke are coming up there," he said.

"There is going to be great competition between now and the end of the season.

"There is still fantastic motivation for the players and the tools have not been downed despite Sunday's defeat.

"You can see that and the players want to keep it going until the end of the season. I'm challenging them to finish in the top half."