Championship leaders Brighton go in search of a sixth straight win when they host Birmingham City.

Brighton are flying but will be without top scorer Craig Mackail-Smith this weekend, who has failed to recover from a hamstring injury.

Gus Poyet could hand a first start to deadline-day signing Stephen Dobbie for the visit of the Blues.

Lee Clark has signed full-back Paul Robinson on loan this week as he looks for a response after a humiliating 5-0 defeat to Barnsley last week.

Injury-hit Birmingham were unbeaten in three before the Barnsley debacle, and will hope for a similar performance to their last away match, a 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest.

Recent form:

Brighton: WWWWW

Birmingham: LWDWL

Possible lineups:

Brighton: Kuszczak, Bruno, Greer, El-Abd, Bridge, Hammond, Orlandi, Bridcutt, Buckley, Barnes, Dobbie

Birmingham: Butland, Robinson, Caldwell, Davies, Spector, Burke, Mullins, Elliot, Fahey, King, Lovenkrands

Sports Mole says: 2-0