The turbulent Felix Magath era is over at Fulham, but the troubled times do not yet seem to be over for the club going into Saturday's match against Birmingham City at St Andrew's.

A 5-3 defeat to league leaders Nottingham Forest was the final nail in the coffin for Magath, although caretaker boss Kit Symons did not do his cause for the permanent job any good with defeat to Blackburn Rovers in his first game.

The Cottagers have since picked up a maiden victory under the Welshman, edging past League One side Doncaster Rovers in the League Cup on Tuesday, but the club are still without a win in the Championship this season.

Having dropped down from the Premier League last term, Fulham have plummeted straight to the bottom of the table with a meagre one point from their opening eight matches.

If that form doesn't dramatically improve quickly then fans must begin fearing back-to-back relegations and life in the third tier next season.

Much will depend on the identity of the man who takes the job at Craven Cottage, and most fans will be happy with reports that Chris Hughton has held positive talks with the club.

He is unlikely to be in place in time for this weekend's match, however, leaving Symons once again at the helm as the team look to claim three league points at the ninth time of asking.

To do that, they must improve defensively having shipped a league-high 19 goals already this season, with their goal difference of minus 13 also the worst in the division.

The visitors will be without Shaun Hutchinson on Saturday as he continues to serve his suspension, but Scott Parker is expected to return to the starting lineup having come off the bench in midweek.

Birmingham may be six points better off than Fulham already, but their form going into this match is not much better than the Cottagers'.

The Blues are without a win in seven matches in all competitions, while they have won just once in the league all season - and that run stretches back to one in their last 14 if you include the end of the last campaign.

Home form was the major issue for Lee Clark's side last season and, although they broke a 10-month winless streak at St Andrew's at the start of the current campaign, subsequent dropped points to Ipswich Town, Leeds United and Sheffield Wednesday will not have convinced the fans that their home troubles are over.

Their last outing saw them pick up a respectable 2-2 draw against in-form Norwich City, although even that may feel like dropped points after they threw away a two-goal lead in three second-half minutes.

Clark may opt to name the same side this weekend, with Clayton Donaldson continuing to lead the line for the hosts.

Recent form

Birmingham: DLDLLD

Fulham: WLLLDW

Possible starting lineups

Birmingham: Randolph; Spector, Edgar, Robinson, Grounds; Davis, Caddis, Reilly; Cotterill, Donaldson, Gray

Fulham: Bettinelli; Hoogland, Bodurov, Burn, Amorebieta; Christensen, Parker, Ruiz, Stafylidis; McCormack, Rodallega

Sports Mole says: 1-2