New Rovers boss Eustace says Birmingham return is "another working day"

New Blackburn boss John Eustace will make a swift return to former club Birmingham on Tuesday evening insisting it will be business as usual.

A quirk of the fixture list means the new man's first game in charge of Rovers - coaches David Lowe and Damien Johnson were at the helm for Saturday's 3-1 Sky Bet Championship win over Stoke - is against the Blues, the club which dispensed with his services in October to hand the reins to Wayne Rooney.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Eustace said: "Tuesday will be another working day, it'll be no different.

"I had a fantastic time at Birmingham and I'll go back and see a lot of friends and all the players. It's a great club. Blackburn Rovers is the future now and I can't wait to go there with Rovers and put on a good performance."

Blackburn will head for St Andrew's sitting seven points clear of the relegation zone, but with Eustace warning his players they will have to "sweat blood" if they are to drag themselves out of trouble.

Eustace, who was appointed as Jon Dahl Tomasson's replacement on Friday, said: "There's a lot of teams in the bottom seven or eight fighting to move up the league and we're one of them, so the three points, the manner we won it, playing some good football at times and that togetherness and the way we dug in, showed we're really up for the fight.

"The players have shown that commitment, that desire and the fighting spirit that I want my teams to be all about. I want the fans to go away from watching them and think, 'Blimey, they've sweated blood for this fantastic football club'.

"We'll take each game as it comes and ensure we're very competitive in every game we play. That's something I'll be driving into the boys to ensure that whatever happens, win, lose or draw, we stick together."