Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish has expressed hope that forward James McFadden could return to action in the next three weeks after a successful knee operation.

The injured Scotland international had missed last weekend's 2-1 defeat at Reading, and is also set to be out for the upcoming fixtures with Manchester City and Wigan.

"The operation went very well and James feels good," McLeish, whose side are just a place above the drop zone, told the club's official website.

"It's important that we got him sorted out for the games that will be crucial at the end of the campaign.

"Hopefully now he'll be back in two or three weeks, but we'll be guided by Neil McDiarmid (the chief physio) and his team.

"We can ill afford to lose players like James McFadden and (Olivier) Kapo from what is a small and inexperienced squad.

"These are major blows to any team never mind Birmingham City, but especially to us when you don't have the resources."