European 3,000 metres indoor champion Mo Farah will race Ethiopia's three-time Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele in Birmingham on 20 February.

He set the British record last year in a time of seven minutes 34.47 seconds.

Farah, 26, will be aiming for a similar display in next Saturday's Aviva Grand Prix at the National Indoor Arena.

"Bekele is always mentioned as the man to beat, and it's great to pit myself against him with the hope being I can give him a good challenge," he said.

Farah has not competed since coming third in the Great Edinburgh International Cross Country in January - he was in some distress when he crossed the finish line, paying the price for a fast start.

606: DEBATE Give your reaction to Farah facing Bekele At the end of last year he collapsed with exhaustion following a duel with eventual winner Alemayehu Bezabeh in the men's European Cross Country Championships in Ireland.

Farah was last month instructed to take dietary supplements after tests revealed lower than normal levels of iron and magnesium.

The Londoner has been doing high-altitude winter training in Kenya as he prepares for next month's World Indoor Championships in Doha.

Bekele losing in Edinburgh in January

"I'm looking forward to competing in Birmingham," added Farah.

"It will be great to get on the track again alongside the best in the world and benchmark myself against them to gauge my potential performance in Doha.

"It's brilliant to get the chance of running in front of a home crowd, there is always such a fantastic atmosphere, and the crowd really spur you on which is really important in long distance.

"I have a bit of a soft spot for the NIA since my performance last year. Breaking the British record was fantastic and I would love to get close to that again, if not beat it."