Davies believes Birmingham are 'real contenders'

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies believes his side can be "real contenders" in the Championship this season despite a difficult start.

Birmingham scored just seven league goals across August and September, the same amount they have accumulated in their past three league matches alone.

Blues seem particularly potent at home, scoring four goals in each of their past three matches at St Andrew's.

"If you look at the underlying numbers, we've improved at almost everything in the last six, seven, eight games," Davies told BBC Radio WM.

"Now I have a lot more belief, looking at us, that we can be a real contender.

"I think early season, we were finding our feet. Some players were finding their feet, their own confidence in their levels, some of them had never played in the Championship. But I look at some of those same players now, I see a belief in them."

Defender Phil Neumann has "recovered okay" from a hefty challenge picked up against West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday and should be available for the game against Watford on Monday (20:00 GMT).

But midfielder Willum Willumsson, who has not featured since August, has suffered a set-back during training to delay a return.

"He's [Willumsson] had another knock in training that has delayed his progress because he was very close to returning, but then he's picked up something else," Davies added.

"It's a bit of a day-by-day but hopefully it's a matter of weeks not months until he's back in the squad."

Listen to the full interview with Davies and more Birmingham City content on BBC Sounds.