Blues linked with £8m striker move

Alex McLeish has challenged Birmingham City to bounce back from defeat at Chelsea – as Blues were linked with an £8million move for Tottenham's Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Reports suggest the St Andrew's club have had an approach rejected for the striker by this Saturday's opponents Spurs, even though boss Harry Redknapp has signed Monaco forward Eidur Gudjohnsen.

McLeish has had Pavlyuchenko in his sights for a while, in a bid to strengthen his attack.

Last night's defeat ended a 15-game unbeaten run stretching back to mid-October, but the Blues boss is confident his side can build another unbeaten run with their tally of 33 points almost enough to stay up.

He said: "I'm confident they'll bounce back sooner rather than later – I'd certainly back them to do that and know that on Saturday we'll send Spurs home knowing they've been in a game. As a group these players have been excellent week in, week out this season and the fact they were gutted in the changing room showed just how much they want to win games.

"We went behind early in a manner that was most unlike us and when they scored the second it did leave us with a mountain to climb.

"At the break, I told the players if we could get a goal we'd be right back in it and we were much better in the second half.

"We had chances but the difference was we didn't take ours and Chelsea, who are a world class team, took theirs.

"That being said I think their third goal in the last minute was a little bit cruel - our back five in particular didn't deserve that."

McLeish gave midfielder Michel his debut, bringing the £3million signing on for the last 18 minutes.

The Blues boss added: "It wasn't the most memorable debut ever as we lost, but Michel will have benefitted from playing at Stamford Bridge.

"He showed some excellent touches and produced one or two of the passes we know he's capable of."