Although in the short term Bryan Robson is harbouring notions of ill intent towards his close friend Steve Bruce, in the long term the West Bromwich Albion manager has backed his former team-mate to reverse the downturn in results that has seen Birmingham City struggle at the start of the new season.

Robson and Bruce come head to head tomorrow lunchtime when the Baggies host Birmingham City in the Midlands' first local derby of the campaign and for once it is the latter that has more resting on the result.

The former Manchester United stalwarts faced each other twice last season when Robson was battling to arrest Albion's near- terminal decline, meaning the former England captain went into both games knowing a loss could do irreparable damage to his reputation.

This season the roles are reversed with the Baggies having taken four of their first nine points while City have just a single draw to show for their efforts, a run that resulted in Blues being booed from their own St Andrew's pitch against Middlesbrough on Tuesday night.

That has led to speculation that, having spent heavily again in the summer, Bruce is already under pressure and that he can ill-afford a third consecutive defeat.

But Robson has words of succour for his cross-city counterpart and yesterday urged the Birmingham fans to be patient.

"Birmingham have got off to a stuttery start but people have got short memories with Steve coming in for a bit of flak at the moment," Robson said.

"We are only three games into the season. He has done a terrific job at Birmingham. They have been very comfortable in the Premier League for the last three years.

" The expectations are higher with people talking about Europe and now some people are getting the knives out and sharpening them, which is unfair. Birmingham fans have got to be patient and they have got to look at the overall job Steve Bruce has done for them."

Friendship aside Robson recognises the significance of three points tomorrow - both for him and Bruce. "If we beat Birmingham on Saturday, it is the last thing that Steve will need but it would be the perfect thing for us.

"If we can go into the international break with seven points from four games we will view it as a good start. It will give everyone real confidence.

"Even though Steve is a mate, a win is what I have got to be looking for from my players but I've got every confidence Birmingham will be soon climbing the table.

"Steve will know that if you put two wins together at this stage of the season, the league table is totally different.

"He will be looking to take something out of the West Brom game himself and view it as an opportunity to kickstart their season."

Robson revealed that he will make further changes on Saturday from the side beaten 4-0 by Chelsea in midweek.

But he rubbished suggestions he had gone to Stamford Bridge with a side which had little hope of gaining any tangible reward from the fixture.

"That is nonsense. I've said I will be rotating the squad with us having three games in seven days. People can talk about having an 'A' team or a 'B' team but it was the 'A' team defence in action at Chelsea and we made the sort of errors you can't afford against a team of their quality."

Robson made five changes to the side that beat Portsmouth last Saturday leading to suggestions that he had written off the trip to Stamford Bridge in a desire to concentrate on tomorrow's apparently more winnable fixture.

Robson is still hoping to bring in a centre-back before the transfer window closes on August 31 and believes there could be some positive news in that direction in the next 24 hours.