Birmingham City will give late fitness tests to James McFadden and Sebastian Larsson before Sunday's derby at Aston Villa (kick-off 12pm).McFadden and Larsson both picked up knee problems during last weekend's 1-1 draw with Everton.

Mauro Zarate is on standby to replace McFadden while midfielder Olivier Kapo could return after a seven-match absence with a hamstring strain.

Birmingham are still without their Northern Ireland international midfielder Damien Johnson, who is serving the second game of the three-match suspension he picked up after being sent off at Wigan, and central defender Martin Taylor who has a hamstring strain.

Birmingham (from): Maik Taylor, Kelly, Jaidi, Ridgewell, Murphy, McSheffrey, Nafti, Muamba, Larsson, Forssell, McFadden, Schmitz, O'Connor, Jerome, Queudrue, Zarate, Parnaby, Kapo, Doyle.

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