Venue: St Andrew’s
Date: Saturday, 26 December 2009
Kick-off: 1245 GMT
Right, the turkey’s been eaten, the crackers pulled and there’s enough wrapping paper to create our own versions of Sherwood Forest in the back garden. Now it’s back to the nitty gritty of the festive period as we attempt to get 3 points out of a trip to St Andrew’s.
MANAGERS’ VIEWS
Ahead of today’s fixture, Birmingham manager Alex McLeish says “We have got a hard schedule ahead of us over the festive period and we’ve got to try and take some bonus points. We played Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham and acquitted ourselves well without getting anything from the games. We finally got something off one of the big clubs when we went to Anfield recently (a 2-2 draw). There’s no reason why we can’t pick up other points in this crucial period. Will we have tough test against Chelsea? We are hoping it will be a tough test for Chelsea. People are now saying we should be beating teams like Chelsea! I am jesting but we certainly feel we have got the players to make Chelsea know they have been in a really tough game.”
Carlo Ancelotti doesn’t seem quite as full of festive cheer, stating “I think that Chelsea have shown a new play in the last year, and shown personality and identity. Sometimes we can play well. Sometimes we don’t play such a good match. But every game Chelsea play with personality, with a particular system of play and, also, with a good identity. Birmingham arrived from five consecutive victories and a draw. Above all, it’s difficult to play up there. They put a lot of pressure on, and we’ll have to pay attention.”
SQUAD NEWS
Birmingham have Murphy, Tainio (both knee) and O’Connor (hip) missing through injury although Liam Ridgewell (ankle) and Roger Johnson (knee) could recover in time for today’s game.
For Chelsea, Bosingwa (knee) and Michael Essien (hamstring) have been joined on the missing list by Deco and Nicolas Anelka.
TEAMS
BIRMINGHAM (from): Hart, Carr, Roger Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Larsson, Ferguson, Bowyer, McFadden, Jerome, Benitez, Maik Taylor, Fahey, Vignal, Carsley, Phillips, McSheffrey, Damien Johnson, Queudrue, Parnaby
CHELSEA (from): Cech, Hilario, Turnbull, Ivanovic, Belletti, Alex, Carvalho, Terry, A Cole, Lampard, Ballack, Obi, Malouda, J Cole, Zhirkov, Drogba, Kalou, Kakuta, Bruma, Borini, Sturridge, Matic
LAST MEETING
Birmingham 0-1 Chelsea (19 January 2008)
PREDICTION
Birmingham haven’t beaten us in their last 15 attempts in all competitions although our visit today coincides with a run of nine games unbeaten, so given our recent form, I won’t be getting to carried away with that record. And whilst we’ve scored in every game so far this season, I think we’ll all be a bit more concerned about any set-pieces we might give away, bearing in mind we’ve conceded 13 of our 15 goals that way.
REFEREE
Peter Walton
Blue is the colour
