Alex McLeish has vowed to make St Andrew's a ground where opposing teams fear to tread as he prepares for his first home game as Birmingham manager.
McLeish has seen Blues turn in two highly creditable away performances since he became Steve Bruce's successor, winning at Tottenham and only being beaten by a last-gasp goal at Newcastle.
McLeish knows how intimidating a place St Andrew's can be from previous scouting missions and he wants to restore that atmosphere. He said: "In football, there are no guarantees but we are trying to impress on the players that we have to make St Andrew's a very difficult place for teams to come to.
"We will be preparing the players for a very important game. We want the tempo of our play up high, we want the fans behind us, we want to have a full house. I will be looking at different tactics for different games. At home, the onus is on us to win the game and to go and make things happen.
"I have watched games at St Andrew's and it is an old English-type football ground in the traditional sense, with the fans very close to the pitch.
"They generate a great noise. It will be great if they can shout the house down and give the players extra energy."
Birmingham have been encouraged to adopt more of a passing game under McLeish but he is also aware of the need to tighten up defensively and to stop conceding late goals in matches.
Blues have not kept a clean sheet since the goalless draw with Liverpool at Anfield in September and have conceded 20 goals in the last 10 matches. McLeish said: "Newcastle didn't really open us up last week in normal play - but our set-piece defending concerned me a little bit.
"We will look to shore that up. We want to make ourselves as hard to beat as possible. The team have been conceding late goals. When players get tired, the big thing that can let them down is concentration. Your body might be tired but your mind has got to be 100% alive.
"Perhaps, if we had been a little bit like that at Newcastle, we would have been taking a point away from that game."
