Preview: Birmingham vs Chelsea - 7M sport

Preview: Birmingham vs Chelsea



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Posted Friday, November 19, 2010 by thesportscampus.com

St. Andrews will play host to defending champions Chelsea on Saturday, as the Blues look to recover from a shocking result at the hands of Steve Bruce's Sunderland at Stamford Bridge last Sunday. Carlo Ancelotti's men were poor and clueless against a resurgent Sunderland side, who were humiliated only a fortnight ago, when they were hammered 5-1 by Newcastle United in the Tyne-Wear Derby. Birmingham will be proud after coming away from the City of Manchester Stadium with a goalless draw last Saturday, despite the home team's defensive tactics. Chelsea have been hit by injuries and suspensions, but that's no excuse for their appalling result and will look to get things on track, while Alex McLeish will look to galvanize his players eyeing a depleted Chelsea side.

Birmingham

Birmingham began their campaign in earnest, remaining unbeaten until mid-September, when they lost at the Hawthorns. Alex McLeish has a steady line up, and his experienced players combined well with a new crop of youngsters that came through the championship years. Ben Foster putting in decent performances in goal, and a well marshaled defence under skipper Stephen Carr saw the Blues earn some points early in the season. They are, however, winless in four games and have as a result slipped to 18th place in the League table.

Despite the doom and gloom with being in a relegation spot heading into this weekend, Birmingham are within 3 points of 10th place Stoke. They were unlucky not to hold on to a point at the Britannia Stadium in an exciting encounter a fortnight ago, but some poor defending and a lack of urgency in the first half cost them dear.

McLeish's men will need to find the back of the net regularly, and keep it clean at the back if they want to move out of the relegation zone. A noisy atmosphere at home against a wavering Chelsea might just set them on their way. The bright spots for McLeish would be Liam Ridgewell and Keith Fahey on the left and Foster's assurance in goal. Alexander Hleb has been a welcome addition to the squad giving them an additional attacking option. If their home form stays solid, and they are able to pick up vital points on their travels, relegation should not concern them come the end of the season.

Chelsea

Preview: Birmingham vs Chelsea

Chelsea, by their high standards, are in a bit of a mess at the moment. They have lost 2 out of the last 3 league games, they are out of the Carling Cup, and have lost one of the most amicable personalities in English football, for a reason unknown to everybody excepts those in the highest echelons of the club. Yes, they still lead they premiership, albeit by 2 points and they have made it to the knockout rounds of Europe's elite club competition, but there's no hiding the fact that things are not right in West London.

Chelsea face Birmingham at a time when the mainstays of the squad, skipper John Terry, Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Alex are unavailable. Birmingham on the other hand, are on a decent run of form and have just lost one game at home all season. The squad's depth is being stretched, and its time for the likes of Ramires and Zhirkov to step up. Chelsea's only bright spot in the game against Sunderland was seeing Josh McEchran run on for Ramires, for whom the Blues paid 18 million pounds in the summer. Malouda and Drogba started the season in fine goal scoring form, but have failed to create much without Lampard and Essein providing. Ivanovic, Alex, Terry and Ashley Cole have been quite superb, not to mention Petr Cech in goal, but that was before Sunderland scored thrice against them. Paulo Ferreira has been poor for quite sometime now, and it's only a matter of time before young Jeffrey Bruma steps up.

Birmingham will be warned of a Chelsea backlash, and in the manner that the champions were last week, you can be sure they will come out at St. Andrews, all guns blazing. They risk losing top spot in the premiership if they slip up on Saturday and will want to redeem themselves in a hurry.

Head to Head
27th Jan, 2010 – Chelsea 3 – 0 Birmingham City
26th Dec, 2009 – Birmingham City 0 – 0 Chelsea

Form Guide

Birmingham - DLDDW
13th Nov, 2010 – Manchester City 0 – 0 Birmingham City
9th Nov, 2010 – Stoke City 3 – 2 Birmingham City
6th Nov, 2010 – Birmingham City 2 – 2 West Ham United
31st Oct, 2010 – Aston Villa 0 – 0 Birmingham City
26th Oct, 2010 – Birmingham City 1 – 1 Brentford (4 – 3 on penalties, Carling Cup)

Chelsea - LWLWW

14th Nov, 2010 – Chelsea 0 – 3 Sunderland
10th Nov, 2010 – Chelsea 1 – 0 Fulham
7th Nov, 2010 – Liverpool 2 – 0 Chelsea
3rd Nov, 2010 – Chelsea 4 – 1 Spartak Moskva (UCL)
30th Oct, 2010 - Blacburn Rovers 1 – 2 Chelsea

Probable line-ups

Birmingham (4-4-2): Foster, Carr, Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Ferguson, Gardner, Fahey, Larson, Jerome, Zigic

Birmingham have been consistent with their defensive line up this season. Ben Foster will look to keep Drogba and Anelka at bay, which might be a hard thing to, but Sunderland and Liverpool both showed that it is possible to keep a clean sheet against the champions. Stephen Carr will lead from the back alongside Roger Johnson and Scott Dann, who have established a formidable centre-back pairing. Liam Rigdewell will look to come down the left flank with Keith Fahey ahead of him. Craig Gardner and Barry Ferguson have looked solid in the center of midfield and they will look stamp out a weakened Chelsea midfield who looked clueless on Sunday night. Cameron Jerome and Nikola Zigic have been effective for the 18th placed side, who have benefited from Alexander Hleb and Jean Beausejour's attacking prowess from the bench. Zigic, with his height could trouble Chelsea's make shift defence, while Jerome is no push over despite his meager goal tally.

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech, Bosingwa, Ferreira, Ivanovic, A Cole, Obi Mikel, Zhirkov, Ramires, Malouda, Anelka, Drogba

Carlo Ancelotti would have been wondering what went wrong against Steve Bruce's Sunderland on Sunday night and would want to put the demons to rest. Petr Cech was helpless for at least 2 of the 3 goals and made no less than 3 fine saves against the Black Cats. But it's the back four for Chelsea, more significantly the centrebacks who have been unconvincing. Ashley Cole and Jose Bosingwa will look to support their frontmen, but Paulo Ferreira and Branislav Ivanovic will have to do much better against a physical Birmingham attack. Obi Mikel, Ramires and Zhirkov were bullied in midfield and will look to prove their hefty pay cheques against Birmingham City. With the defence and midfield looking shaky, it comes down to Malouda, Drogba and Anelka to score more than they concede in order to eke out a result.

Prediction: The St. Andrews faithful will be in full voice and Alex McLeish as always, will have a positive approach when playing in front of the Bluenoses. Chelsea on the other hand will look to set things right after a tumultuous couple of days at Stamford Bridge. After their spirited performance against Stoke, we can expect the midlands team to give the Londoners a run for their money. There is an outside shot of an upset here, but we feel Chelsea will be desperate to bounce back and there might be the odd surprises on the team sheet as well - especially considering Alex's guest appearance on the Brazil bench in midweek!

Predicted Scoreline: Birmingham City 1 – 2 Chelsea



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