Forssell faces surgery

Birmingham City striker Mikael Forssell faces a month out to have surgery on a hernia problem.

The Finland international has been dogged by injury problems, most notably a knee complaint for the past three seasons.

And Blues manager Steve Bruce admitted Forssell needs to go under the knife sooner rather than later to try and minimise the time he will be sidelined.

Bruce said: "Mikael will go into hospital on Monday. It looks like he has got a hernia problem and we will do something about it as quickly as we possibly can. He will miss the Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers games. These things usually take three to four weeks.

many knockbacks

"You feel sorry for the lad because he has had so many knockbacks in recent years but kept persevering. This season, he came back looking sharp and we wondered if he was finally over everything and this will be another blow to him."

Bruce confirmed that keeper Richard Kingson will be available to face the Red Devils on Saturday after suffering a bang to the head against Blackburn in the mid-week Carling Cup tie.

He said: "He's going to be okay. It was a bit of a worry at the time but he is in and we think he is fine."