CAMERON Jerome has admitted Birmingham City should be back to normal on Saturday.

And with places up for grabs in the Carling Cup final, there is extra incentive to bounce back and defeat Sheffield Wednesday.

The Owls are visitors for a fifth round FA Cup tie, Blues last game before the big one against Arsenal at Wembley.

Alex McLeish could well freshen his side up – and he has confirmed there should be enforced changes anyway due to injuries.

But whatever the kind of team he fields, Wembley selection is bound to loom large in the minds of the players, and Big Eck.

“We let ourselves down against Newcastle,” said Jerome. “We weren’t at it. We looked tired.

“We haven’t got the biggest of squads and a lot of people have played a lot of games and we just weren’t quite with it.

“We didn’t quite create the chances for the strikers and we didn’t defend like we needed to defend.

“Newcastle are not a bad side, they combated the big man (Nikola Zigic) well and were solid in midfield. But we made them look better than they are in all fairness.

“We conceded an early goal, then played some good football down the sides in the first half. Newcastle were a bit narrow, but we couldn’t quite engineer the clear-cut chances for the midfielders and the strikers.

“We couldn’t really complain. We didn’t play well enough to earn the three points. They won the battles. We can’t dwell on it too much.