The 24-year-old said: “I can’t wait to face Liverpool. I have nothing to prove. What happened is that I moved and you have to move in football if you want to play first-team football.

“Of course there will be a special motivation because it’s my former club and I’ve still got a lot of friends there.”

Liverpool go in search of some much needed consistency after struggling in the league but impressing in the Champions League.

Luis Garcia admitted: “We have to become more consistent and follow up our Champions League win in midweek. That is our real aim now and we have to take our chances more.

“Luck has not gone our way I know and we have missed plenty of scoring opportunities this season, but the most important thing is to keep making the chances.”

Newcastle have set their sights on a fourth successive victory as they attempt to continue their climb up the table.

The Magpies made it into the top half last weekend with their resounding 3-0 win at West Brom as they ended a good week on a high note.

A 3-2 derby win over arch-rivals Sunderland on October 23 set the ball rolling, and progression to the fourth round of the Carling Cup against Grimsby before their successful trip to the Hawthorns has done much to dispel the doom and gloom which had earlier threatened to engulf St James’ Park.

Another three points when struggling Birmingham head for Tyneside tomorrow would send Graeme Souness and his players into the international break with renewed confidence.

“It’s not nice when you look at the table and find yourself in the bottom section,” 21-year-old defender Peter Ramage said. “Things are looking better now. We are up into the top half of the Premiership, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.”

Blues manager Steve Bruce returns to his native north east this weekend hoping he can spark a revival in the club’s flagging fortunes.

Bruce has seen luckless Birmingham plummet into the relegation zone with only one win to their credit, and he could be without 10 players for the clash against the Magpies.

“No one can judge me at the present time with this number of players missing from the line-up,” he said.

“We have coped with it as best we can but it has obviously depleted us badly and this has been reflected in our results.”

West Ham manager Alan Pardew has assured fans his plans to spend heavily in January will not put the club’s future in jeopardy.

The Hammers, who face West Brom at Upton Park tomorrow, almost buckled under the weight of trying to balance a Premiership wage bill with a Championship income following relegation in the 2002-03 season.

Pardew is convinced that delayed promotion by a year, and he said: “We are armed with a budget for players who could potentially play in the Champions League. It’s not Chelsea’s budget, or Manchester United’s, but it will give me a chance to bring success to the club at some point.”

West Brom boss Bryan Robson has told his players to follow the lead of his former Manchester United team-mates in a bid to drag themselves away from danger at the bottom of the table.

Robson feels his side could learn from looking at the way Peter Schmeichel, Paul Ince, Steve Bruce and Roy Keane motivaed other players in the United team.

Although this style could lead to confrontations on the pitch, Robson believes it will benefit results.

He said: “Sometimes my lads don’t want to upset each other. What I have told them is that they can upset each other on the pitch and then shake hands after and be mates after the game.

“If I go back to the time I played for Manchester United you cannot imagine Paul Ince, Roy Keane, Peter Schmeichel or Steve Bruce being nice with each other all the time.”