Cardiff City vs Birmingham City (Team News)

Cardiff City are struggling somewhat with injuries for tonight`s clash with Birmingham City, leaving manager Malky Mackay with some difficult decisions over personnel and formation.

The new injury worry is over Tommy Smith, who has occupied the wide right role to good effect in recent weeks. Smith was withdrawn with a hamstring problem which, though not serious, is likely to see him miss out. Smith joins Jordon Mutch (foot) on the sidelines with both players hoping to return over the weekend with the trip to Ipswich Town.

Stephen McPhail (hamstring), Rudy Gestede (knee) and Ben Turner (foot) are all now back in full training and contention, but only Turner will make the matchday squad. He is likely to feature on the bench again after Matt Connolly kept a clean sheet and scored twice in the win over Blackpool.

Sadly, Nicky Maynard remains a long term injury following knee surgery. Craig Bellamy could also be rested with his knee condition requiring rest periods between games. That means Joe Mason is highly likely to feature (either up-front or wide right), while Kim Bo Kyung, Don Cowie or Etien Velikonja will hope to make a rare start for the Bluebirds.


Birmingham City have their own injury worries and with Stephen Carr (knee) ruled out - they have brought in James Hurst on loan from West Brom to play at right-back. Another on-loan right-back Paul Caddis is out with a shoulder complaint so Hurst could well feature against Cardiff.

Defenders David Murphy (hamstring) and Pablo Ibanez (broken toe) are also out but Curtis Davies has now returned to action following his own recent ankle injury. Veteran defender Paul Robinson has joined on a short term deal to provide additional cover and experience.

Controversial striker Marlon King has been struggling with a virus recently, but looks set to feature. King could come in for on-loan Swansea City striker Leroy Lita with both men likely to face a hostile reception from the Cardiff City crowd.


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