There is just one Championship fixture on Sunday as Nottingham Forest host Birmingham City at the City Ground. Both clubs have struggled early on in the campaign and are hovering just above the relegation zone and we will take a look at who might come out on top and make a move up the table (Forest 11/10, Birmingham 5/2, draw 23/10).

Both of these clubs have spent a few years in the Premier League but currently find themselves struggling to keep themselves in the second tier of English football.

While Forest have not eaten off the top table for 12 years, Birmingham were a top-fight club just last season and qualified for Europe by beating Arsenal in the final of the Carling Cup.

But it may well be that winning the Carling Cup sealed their fate as a Premier League side as they were unable to replicate that form during the run-in to the end of the season and were relegated into the Championship.

And so Chris Hughton has to deal with the twin tasks of trying to get the club back into the Premier League and taking his men on European journeys in mid-week (Birmingham 100/1 Europa League Outright).

Whether or not the Europa League has taken its toll is open to debate but the Blues have won just two Championship games all season and have been beaten on three out of four occasions they have ventured away from St Andrews.

And so it is not looking good for Hughton as he takes his men the short distance to Nottingham, although he has been boosted with the news that defenders Curtis Davies and Stephen Carr should be fit to play as their injuries were not as serious as first thought.

Confidence was low after the 4-1 trashing at the hands of Southampton but a draw with Barnsley and the mid-week European victory at NK Maribor will have given the players a shot in the arm and the belief that they might be able to cure their away-day blues domestically as well.

And what better time to play a Forest side who are still trying to come to terms with their mid-week mauling at the hands of Burnley?

Steve McLaren’s job was already coming under pressure before the 5-1 defeat and a home loss to the Blues might be the end of the line for the former England chief.

He has been critical of the lack of investment in new players and it is clear that his men are struggling to compete in the Championship with just two points from a possible 12 at home and two victories on the road.

The Clarets’ defeat might turn out to be a watershed in the season for Forest but it remains to be seen whether McLaren wields the axe following the debacle.

But he does not have too many options with a lengthy injury list as Paul Anderson, George Boateng, Garath McCleary, Chris Cohen and Dexter Blackstock are all currently sidelined.

Having blotted his copybook with England, the former Middlesbrough boss regained some respect in Holland and, following his departure from Wolfsburg, it was thought that he might be able to re-establish himself in English football.

It has not quite worked out that way yet but it will be the mark of a top-class manager if he can achieve success at the famous club on a shoestring budget.

A glance at what David Moyes has achieved at Everton proves that it can be done and McLaren needs to get his head down and just work with what he has got.

McLaren’s men did beat Watford prior to the Burnley result and they will need a repeat performance to take all three points from this one.

But with Forest unable to win at home and Birmingham winless on the road, the smart money will be on a low-scoring draw in this one

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