MARTIN Jiranek is a major doubt but most of Blues’ other recent injury concerns should be in contention to face Bolton tomorrow.

Alex McLeish will monitor the fitness and freshness of numerous players in the hours up to the crucial game. He is optimistic of good news on quite a few fronts in his battle-scarred squad but one key absentee is likely to be Czech defender Jiranek, so influential alongside Roger Johnson at the heart of defence since Scott Dann was ruled out for the season.

“Jiranek has had a minor operation on his toe,” McLeish said.

“He has been playing with discomfort for the past eight weeks so we had to do something about it. He is a doubt for the Bolton game.

“But Nikola Zigic played 15 minutes for Serbia off the bench which indicates he is fit and ready.

‘‘He has been out for a couple of weeks so we will have a look in training at whether he can start the game. Lee Bowyer has trained this week which is good news.

“Craig Gardner was not at his sharpest in the Wigan game so I’d like to think the little break will have recharged his batteries.”

With players spread far and wide on international duty, keeping tabs on his squad has not been easy for McLeish with Obafemi Martins’ progress with the Nigerian camp particularly tricky to track.