Chelsea V Birmingham City Betting: Wednesday, 27th January

Chelsea V Birmingham City

Wednesday, 27^th January – 19:45 GMT

Chelsea

League Position: 3rd

Recent Form: WDDWW

Chelsea were at their clinical best on Saturday as the swept aside Preston North End, winning 2-0, to book their place in the fifth round where Cardiff City now await them. That does appear another very generous draw for Chelsea and so this should enable Carlo Ancelotti to put most of his attention and concentration into the league and plotting how Chelsea will overhaul the new leaders of the Premiership, Manchester United. The blues now find themselves playing second fiddle, which is something they aren’t accustomed to this season, but a win could see them regain top spot as the leaders have played two games more than Chelsea.

For Chelsea to go into this weekends fixtures as ‘Top Dog’ they would need Arsenal to come a cropper in their midweek outing at Villa Park. Considering Chelsea came unstuck at Villa Park earlier in the season, an Arsenal setback isn’t out of the question. However, Chelsea can’t afford to let their minds stray elsewhere as they must get the job done themselves. The task, though, won’t be easy as some think as Birmingham are right up their in the form table, with only Arsenal bettering Birmingham’s recent form. Alex McLeish has guided Birmingham to a fifteen match unbeaten run in all competitions, twelve of which have been in the league, but Chelsea are more than equipped to obliterate such a run and we feel they’ll do just that on Wednesday night.  

Stamford Bridge has been a happy hunting ground for Chelsea this season, which won’t raise any eyebrows. In eleven home fixtures only Everton have left the Bridge with their pride still intact, with Chelsea boasting a remarkably strong home record of 10-1-0. Even two giants of English football; Liverpool & Manchester United, have both come unstuck away at Chelsea, which just highlights the task in front of Birmingham and how intimidating a record Chelsea have at home. Moreover, their record becomes even more daunting when you see that Chelsea have found the goal on 34 occasions at home in just 11 games, averaging over 3 goals a game at Stamford Bridge.

The flaws for Chelsea has been in their defence, which is a surprise as it looked impenetrable in the early stages of the season. At home, Chelsea have conceded eight goals, which is solid enough. However, Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal hasn’t kept a clean sheet in his last three starts at Stamford Bridge, conceding one to Portsmouth, one to Fulham and two to Sunderland. All of which were sloppy goals and all were a cause of bad defending. A usually well organised Chelsea defence has been all over the place of late and they were lucky not to concede at Preston on Saturday. There are gaps in that Chelsea defence, ones which can be exploited, but Chelsea spend so much time on the ball, such is their ability to dominate games, that it doesn’t come as much of a problem. However, there is certainly room for improvement with this Chelsea side and they are far from unbeatable… even at home.

Birmingham City

League Position: 8th

Recent Form: WDDWD 

Birmingham will be full of confidence, which is nothing new as they’ve been having a whale of a time for a while now. Not since mid-October have Birmingham lost a game of football and this has led to a surge of momentum at the club which helped them bypass a very tricky FA Cup tie at Everton, with ease it has to be said. Birmingham made relatively light work of Everton on Saturday, but they will be given a far sterner test on Wednesday night as the prepare themselves for a Chelsea onslaught. 

It’s quite remarkable the run of form Birmingham are in at the moment. It’s the longest in the clubs history, which is a credit to both the players and the manager, but it’s not actually come as that much of a surprise, although the length of their unbeaten run has. From their very first outing (a 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford), Birmingham shaped up as a team that would easily avoid relegation because they looked extremely solid and hard to break down. Every single players works hard for one another and each individual knows the importance of keeping this morale oozing run going. However, to maintain it for so long takes some doing but the bookies haven’t shown Birmingham any respect whatsoever, even with this staggering run of theirs.

According to the bookies Birmingham are huge underdogs, which seems a little harsh considering Birmingham gave Chelsea a rough ride in the reverse fixture at St. Andrews. A game Birmingham should have won were it not for a dubious disallowed goal. Of course, Birmingham thrived on the fabulous support of their home fans that day but they’ve shown no sign of weakness in their away games of late to indicate that they will simply roll over and justify their huge 14/1 price tag. Birmingham are unbeaten in five away outings in the league, winning three of them, and have an Everton victory at the weekend as one of their more glamorous away scalps for the season. It will, of course, be a big ask and we agree that Chelsea should be firm favourites, but Birmingham do look way overpriced and we wouldn’t discourage anyone from having a wee punt on the Scotsman, Alex McLeish, getting another valiant performance out of his players.  

If Birmingham are to produce a shock, by that we mean beat Chelsea, then they will need to produce their biggest display of the season, and that would take some doing. However, the way Birmingham set up does mean a surprising away victory isn’t completely out of the question. Alex Mcleish will set his side up to defend, that’s a given, he will ask his players, especially his midfielders, to close Chelsea down and not to allow them any time on the ball. He will try to nullify the spaces available to Chelsea and to keep the Birmingham defence compact at all times. However, where Birmingham have been dangerous this season has been on the counter and from set-plays, and Chelsea have been made to look foolish from set-pieces this season, so perhaps a shock is a worthwhile punt at 14/1?!

Head-to-Head:

Chelsea W: 6 Birmingham City W: 0 Draws: 3

•  In nine previous meetings, Birmingham have never beaten Chelsea in the Premiership. 

•  Chelsea have won three of the last four home fixtures with Birmingham, winning the last 3-2 back in August, 2007. 

•  Birmingham’s best effort away at Stamford Bridge was a 1-1 draw in April, 2005. 

• In nine meetings with Chelsea, Birmingham have only managed four goals, although three have come at Stamford Bridge.

Match Verdict: Chelsea to WIN – 1.26 Expekt.com

This will be a tough game for both sides but we see Chelsea as the victorious side. Chelsea haven’t been playing sublime football of late but they’ve been clinical and assertive in their games without their missing African contingents. Birmingham will be supremely confident heading to London after a huge 15 match run without losing a game. However, this is their toughest away fixture left to play and it’s asking a lot from Birmingham to maintain their unbeaten run by avoiding defeat at Stamford Bridge. The only qualm with Chelsea is that Frank Lampard limped off at the weekend but he should be available for Ancelotti, while Nicolas Anelka is more than accomplished to spoils Birmingham’s run as he showed with his goal-baring display at Preston. Chelsea to overpower Birmingham!

Match Odds:

Chelsea – 1.26 Expekt.com

Draw – 6.00 SkyBet

Birmingham City – 15.00 Bet365

SoccerBetting Value Pick: Nicolas Anelka Anytime Scorer – 2.05 VCbet