Blues boss' urge for the magic 40

Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish has urged the team to clinch Premier League safety against Wigan and finish what they started.

A win at St Andrew's tomorrow would see Blues reach 40 points – the benchmark for top flight survival – and leave a potential gap of 17 points to the drop zone.

Boss McLeish reckons his players must realise the goal and remain on course for an impressive top 10 finish.

He said: "We're so near and yet so far from the magical 40 points. That's the gauntlet - there you are guys, go and see it through, go out on that pitch and trust each other.

"Of course they have to make decisions out there and human error is going to cost us at some stage – which is what happened last weekend at Fulham.

"But the quality we have got I feel, over the season, we don't make many mistakes."

Blues are unbeaten in 11 games at St Andrew's – their last defeat coming against Bolton in September – and McLeish wants to maintain home form.

He said: "We want to preserve that record. I know there are no guarantees, players can play great and still lose games. We're good at home, strong at home and, if everyone plays to their capabilities, I'm looking forward to us showing our great form at St Andrew's again.

"As long as they give me a great performance, give me everything and go right to the final whistle, as I've asked every single game.

"They've done that recently without getting the breaks."

But McLeish knows Wigan pose a big threat, despite the expectation placed on his side by the home faithful, and insists the relegation threatened Latics are no pushovers.

He said: "The expectation levels are that we've got a home game against a team we saw ourselves round about in the course of the season, we've got a bit of a gap and we're supposed to win.

"But that doesn't make them any less dangerous. They've got good players capable of winning the game. They brought in N'Zogbia, Rodallega, Moreno and they are all very capable players.

"Roberto Martinez probably feels a bit hard done by in recent weeks."