Stephen Carr urges Birmingham City beat Wolves and guarantee Premier League safety

Stephen Carr of Birmingham City (Getty Images)

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Birmingham City right-back Stephen Carr has targeted Sunday’s match at home to West Midlands rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers as a game the Blues can win and subsequently guarantee their place in the Premier League for another season.

Birmingham go into this weekend’s fixtures four points clear of the relegation zone and with a superior goal difference to most other sides, whilst Wolves are second bottom, one point from safety.

Wolves won the return fixture 1-0 at Molineux earlier in the season and Carr is hoping to avenge that defeat.

“The game at Molineux saw us produce one of our poorest performances this season away from home,” he told reporters.

“We know what we have to deal with and we’re a different team at home, to be fair. We let ourselves down a couple of times away from home this season.

“Wolves deservedly won that day. I’m sure it will be a different game come Sunday.

“I think throughout the whole season your home games are most important. They will keep you in the Premier League.

“You look at the positions we’re in now and it’s vital for both teams to win the game, more so probably Wolves because they are trailing us.

“But we look at our two home games we’ve got coming up as big chances to get six points, if we play the way we can.”

It has been a mixed season for the Blues, who have struggled to build upon last season’s ninth place, but they have won the League Cup.

Despite this being Birmingham’s first trophy for 48 years, Carr insists that the Premier League survival is much more important.

He added: “The Carling Cup win was great obviously but the main objective coming into the season was to stay in the league and we haven’t done too well since the Carling Cup win for some reason.

“We probably just took our foot off the pedal, we have one or two injuries, we didn’t get those performances levels up and we got punished when we were making mistakes.

“Winning the cup was a bonus. Once we stay in the league then, with the cup win, it will have been a great season – but we still have to do it.

“The Carling Cup is a bonus at the end of the season for us.

“I know the fans might not think that, having not won anything for so long.

“But this the Premier League is where the money is for the club financially so we know how important it is to stay in this league.

“If we win on Sunday against Wolves, it more or less takes us away from it relegation so it’s in our own hands and that’s how you want it coming to the end of the season.”