JAY-JAY Okocha and the seven other first choice players who were rested as Wanderers kicked off their Carling Cup campaign with a 2-0 win at Yeovil, last night, will be back in Premiership action against Birmingham, at the Reebok on Saturday.

Sam Allardyce was delighted to see his squad strength put to such effective use at Huish Park where he rang the changes, handing full debuts to five players, and still managed to keep the winning habit.

"I was really pleased we won the game because it kept up that winning feeling that we've got at the moment," the manager said.

"If we go back to the end of last season, we've lost just two games out of 13 and that's a tremendous record for a club like ours in the Premiership and the cup."

Although delighted with the victory - secured by late goals from Julio Cesar and Henrik Pedersen - and full of praise for the performances of Fernando Hierro, Tal Ben Haim and Blessing Kaku, who all did well in their first senior starts, he saw nothing to persuade him to make radical changes to his Premiership formula.

Suggesting that Okocha, Jussi Jaaskelainen, Nicky Hunt, Bruno N'Gotty, Radhi Jaidi, Ricardo Gardner, Ivan Campo and Gary Speed will all return for the tea-time clash with Steve Bruce's Blues, he said: "The lads last night played a very difficult 90 minutes.

"Now it's about the lads we left behind being fresh enough to continue their Premiership progress."

With no injuries to report, Allardyce believes last night's victory underlined his claim that he now has his best squad of players since he arrived at the club five years ago.

So strong, in fact, that he has even been able to let Michael Bridges leave for Sunderland, just three months after joining Wanderers from Leeds and without having kicked a ball at senior level.

Bridges was expected to complete the formalities of the transfer today, returning to the club where he built his reputation as one of the best young strikers in the country, before his career was blighted by a catalogue of injuries.

Allardyce said: "It's the strength of the squad that has allowed me to let Michael leave. He needs first team football on a regular basis but, because of the players we have here now, it was difficult to see where he was going to force his way into the side.

"That's the idea behind the move. It is good for us and it will be good for him if he goes and grabs his place at Sunderland, which is where he started."