David Dunn's injury nightmare continues with the Birmingham midfielder out for a minimum of three weeks with the calf injury suffered against Liverpool in midweek.
New signing, striker DJ Campbell is included in the squad for the visit of Arsenal and could be amongst the substitutes but midfielder Neil Kilkenny is sidelined for several weeks with a twisted ankle.
Striker Mikael Forssell sustained a tight calf while warming up at Anfield and is also an injury doubt, while Damien Johnson starts a three-match ban for his red card at Anfield unless the FA overturn the decision.
Arsenal have confirmed they will be without Lauren for the rest of the season after the defender underwent knee surgery yesterday.
Fellow defenders Pascal Cygan (hamstring), Ashley Cole (thigh), Gael Clichy (foot) and Kerrea Gilbert (back) are all still unavailable for the trip to Birmingham while Sol Campbell has been left out of the squad because of personal problems
Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Eboue are still away on African Nations Cup duty but Emmanuel Adebayor has returned from that competition and Cesc Fabregas and Jose Antonio Reyes return from suspension.
Manager Arsene Wenger has also decided to rest Freddie Ljungberg and Robin van Persie but 16-year-old Theo Walcott, the January signing from Southampton, is included for the first time.
Birmingham squad: Taylor, Melchiot, Latka, Upson, Gray, Pennant, Izzet, Clemence, Jarosik, Heskey, Sutton, Campbell, Vaesen, Tebily, Lazaridis, Clapham, Forssell, Bruce.
Arsenal squad: Lehmann, Flamini, Djourou, Senderos, Larsson, Gilberto, Diaby, Fabregas, Reyes, Hleb, Pires, Bergkamp, Henry, Adebayor, Walcott, Almunia, Poom, Song.
