Blues boss expecting test at Saints

Birmingham manager Chris Hughton has admitted Blues' trip to Southampton has been made even more difficult by Saints' impressive start to the season.

Hughton's men face a Southampton side who have marched to second place in the Championship, with five wins out of six games since coming up from League One.

Blues go to St Mary's just three days after a 3-1 defeat to Braga at St Andrew's in the Europa League and have stuttered along in the league, sitting in mid-table.

They have yet to win away in Championship in three attempts and Hughton admits Southampton are not the ideal opponents to break that duck.

He said: "If we thought the game was going to be tough when the fixtures came out, it's tougher now with the start they have had.

"Only time will tell if they will be up there at the end of the season. At this moment, they are certainly playing well enough and looking to be a good enough unit for people to start looking and saying can they sustain it?

"It will be about the periods of time where the big players are out injured and if can they cope with that. Certainly the signs from them at this early part of the season are very good.

"I've seen them play a couple of times on tape and they're very much up there on merit. They're not only scoring goals and winning games, they're also playing very well.

"What they have got at the moment is continuity and a very settled team from last season that they've made some additions to and improved. But you certainly can't go there and expect to be beaten.

"You have to go there and be a threat yourself, because if all you're doing is making yourselves hard to beat and bringing them on to you all the time, they've got enough quality in the front two players alone to score goals."