PFA exclusive interview with a veteran striker

Life in the Premier League is proving as hard as every Birmingham fan thought it would be. They have managed to snare four points from five games thus far but have only bagged two goals, one of which was a penalty.

A defeat to local rivals Aston Villa last week always leaves supporters restless and this Saturday’s clash at Hull could be crucial come May. Injuries to Cameron Jerome and James McFadden mean that Blues may turn to the experienced head of Kevin Phillips to try and break their goal drought.

The veteran striker is one of only a handful of players to turn out for all three clubs in the city – West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa being the other two – and has consistently scored goals at all levels.

Now in his 36th year the clock is ticking on Phillips’ career but he is determined to make an impact this season as Givemfootball’s Ian Clarkson discovered in another exclusive interview.

IS IT A SURPRISE THAT THE TEAM ARE STRUGGLING TO SCORE GOALS?

I think we all appreciate that scoring in the Premier League is a lot harder than it is in the Championship. Looking back at the games we've played, the pleasing side is that we've created chances. You look at the Tottenham game in particular, we created chances there but we just couldn't convert them. There weren't too many chances created in the Villa game but we are getting into the right areas.

IS IT A CONCERN OR IS IT TOO EARLY IN THE SEASON TO WORRY AS YET?

The longer it goes and we haven't scored goals then it will become a concern because you can't survive in this league by drawing games, you need to win them, your fair quota. So it is something that the manager will address and I'm sure hopefully we will get it right over the coming months.

ARE YOU EXPECTING GOALS TO BE SCORED?

I hope they come. We haven't had the rub of the green in the last two games, having conceded in the 95th minute at Tottenham, which I don't think we deserved, and the 85th on Sunday, which was a game that we certainly didn't deserve to lose. So there are promising signs there and it's stuff that we can work on but we've got to start making it happen pretty quick because games are coming up thick and fast. We need to get points on the board.