As we’ve recently tweeted, Birmingham’s Alexander Hleb is a new addition to the casualty list from Tuesday’s internationals. He will miss out on a debut against Liverpool this weekend after sustaining a leg injury playing for Belarus against Romania last night.

Hleb was hauled off with the injury with Belarus coach Bernd Stange confirming that he would be ruled out for his new club against Liverpool…

“His injury is not too serious but Hleb said to me that he definitely would be unable to play on Sunday…He should be able to return to action sometime next week. He just needs some rest and have some physiotherapy to be 100 percent healthy.”

The news will come as a major disappointment for Brum boss Alex McLeish who must have been relishing the prospect of unleashing Hleb against Roy Hodgson’s side in front of the St Andrews crowd.
Hleb will now presumably come back into contention for Birmingham’s local derby with West Brom in Gameweek Five.

So far Fantasy interest has been tepid – not surprising considering Hleb’s goalscoring record and the uncertainty surrounding his role in the Birmingham lineup. We’ve now been robbed of an early opportunity to see how McLeish will fit the playmaker into his starting XI but the injury does at least appear to preserve starting roles for Craig Gardner, Lee Bowyer and Seb Larsson for the weekend clash – all of which are simmering along as Fantasy targets.

Hleb has been removed from our Watchlist until we have official confirmation of the extent of his injury.