Midfielder Mehdi Nafti believes Birmingham City are good enough to avoid the dreaded drop, but says they will only have themselves to blame if they are relegated.

Nafti was left baffled by Blues' 2-1 defeat at relegation rivals Reading on Saturday as once again Birmingham were not outclassed by their opponents and paid the price for individual errors.

In general play, Blues have not looked like relegation candidates but Nafti points out the table will not lie come the end of the season.

"If we go down we can't complain," the 29-year-old Tunisian said. "After 38 games normally the worst teams go down. We will have had 38 games to save ourselves so we can't say we don't deserve that, but I really think we don't deserve to be relegated.

"Can we do it? With how we play, I want to say yes but it looks like things are going against us. We have seven games left so it is in our hands and we are not in the bottom three, so it looks like the other teams want us to stay up as well.

"I am confident but we need to work on set-pieces and do it quickly because there are only six weeks of the season left. Time is running out."

Birmingham have a poor record against their relegation rivals and they will have to cut out the costly errors when they travel to face Wigan Athletic and then Fulham before the end of the season.

Andre Bikey was able to head home both Reading's goals from free kicks after being able to evade the marking of Rahdi Jaidi and Nafti said it was an aspect of the game they had to work harder on.

"Again we are left thinking we were the better team," he said. " How many chances we had, we could have been two or three ahead by half time.

"We are conceding goals from setpieces and perhaps we need to work on it more in training, talk about it and be more aggressive in the box.

"The big problem this season is that we don't have the feeling that we are in our position in the table but the reality is we are there and the games are running out. We have only seven left.

"It is the basics of football that you don't concede from set-pieces and take your chances when they come along. If Gary McSheffrey had scored the first goal in the first half the game would have been over.

"It is what happens in the two boxes that is letting us down. We are good in the middle of the park but in our box and the opposition's box we are not good enough.

"We have international games this week to help us clear our heads and we must lift ourselves. When we equalised I really thought we would go on and beat Reading but when you concede from another set-piece it knocks you backwards. It is hard to come back.

"It quite possibly could have been like the Tottenham game. We could have won by three or four goals. We asked Maik Taylor if he had any important saves to make and he didn't. He did against Newcastle United but not against Reading. They were the home team but they had no shots on goal. It is very frustrating. You feel angry.

"Jaidi is disappointed with their goals but he is 32 years old so you don't have to remind him that he has made a mistake. He isn't the only one to make mistakes."

Meanwhile, midfielder Olivier Kapo could play a part in Blues' match at home to Manchester City next weekend.

The former Juventus player has been sidelined since suffering a torn hamstring against Arsenal at St Andrew's a month ago.

Blues have missed Kapo's attacking threat from the left, and Saturday's reversal at Reading means they are only a point above the bottom three. But the player who has scored five goals this season is fully recovered.

Blues manager Alex McLeish said: "Kapo should be back training with us this week - and he will chomping at the bit to try to claim a place. The only time we want players back training with us is if they are ready to push for a first-team spot."

Kapo's return is a timely boost, given that striker James McFadden has had to undergo keyhole surgery to cure a knee problem. It forced the former Everton player out of the clash against the Royals and he will also miss the game with City and the away encounter with Wigan.

"Although the surgery was of a routine nature, he will be out of the next two games," said McLeish.