Chelsea travel to St Andrews to take on a Birmingham City side, this Saturday; that are fresh from a magnificent draw against Arsenal (a) last weekend. It is a fixture that Chelsea must win if they are to keep on the tails of the current top two in the Premier League, Manchester United and Arsenal. Despite the absence of the African quartet, Avram Grant and his team should remain optimistic about returning south with all three points to keep their title hopes well and truly alive.
Vital Quotes:
After being introduced to the media yesterday, Nicolas Anelka looked forward to a prosperous Chelsea career, remarking,
“At Arsenal I was very young, at Real Madrid as well. Now 28 I think is a good age to be in a big club and to play big games. We`re still in the race to win everything at Chelsea and we`ll try to do it.”
Let`s hope he can get on the score sheet for the first time at St Andrews.
Birmingham Team News:
Alex McLeish has a large squad to choose from and is expected to give recent signing, David Murphy, his full debut. Also likely to feature despite missing training this week is Damien Johnson.
Birmingham from:- Taylor, Doyle, Kelly, Ridgewell, Schmitz, Murphy, Queudrue, Parnaby, Larsson, Muamba, Johnson, Kapo, McSheffery, De Ridder, Jerome, O`Connor, Forssell
At the time of writing we`re unsure whether their most recent signing, James McFadden will feature having been signed from Everton on Friday.
Player to watch: Mikel Forssell
A thoroughly decent chap who despite scoring against us in the opening fixture of the season refused to indulge in any elaborate celebrations knowing full well where his heart lay after enjoying playing in the luxurious surroundings of Stamford Bridge as a teenager. Injuries have cruelly affected his development but none the less he`ll receive a good ovation from the travelling support.
Chelsea Team News:
Chelsea go into the fixture with their squad in a much healthier shape. Although the African quartet of Drogba, Essien, Mikel and Kalou will be several thousand miles away, on the injury front the situation is much healthier with several established stars coming back into the reckoning, indeed, our spies tell us that only John Terry and Andriy Shevchenko are definitely not in contention. Both keepers are now fit, along with the international duo of Florent Malouda and Michael Ballack who have played in recent fixtures. With regards to Frank Lampard, we understand it will be touch and go whether his thigh strain will have recovered sufficiently to be considered for selection. The consensus of opinion in Vital Chelsea headquarters is that Lampard should not be risked this weekend.
With Nicolas Anelka having made his debut last weekend against Spurs, without having trained with his new team mates, there is every chance the Frenchman could well make the starting eleven this weekend. Anelka was introduced to the press, yesterday at Cobham, and seemed raring to go. Hopefully, St Andrews will witness his first goal in a Chelsea shirt.
Once again putting our heads above the parapet, we`ll go for a starting eleven of,
Cech, Belletti, Alex, Carvalho, A.Cole, Makelele, Ballack, Wright-Phillips, Malouda, Anelka, J.Cole
In goal, Petr Cech will be making his 150th Chelsea appearance and we`d like to offer him our congratulations on reaching that particular milestone.
Player to watch: Claude Makelele
The goal scorers may have taken the headlines last week and the press may have been clamouring for Nicolas Anelka to make an appearance but Makelele, returning after an ear operation, showed exactly how good he can still be. Watch how he mops up and starts our attacking game with short, precise passes. Real Madrid didn`t realise how good he was until he`d been sold and it was too late.
Match Facts & Stats
Chelsea entertained Birmingham City in the first fixture of the 2007-2008 campaign. It proved to be an interesting day as Chelsea won in a five goal thriller but in doing so set anew top flight record of 64 unbeaten home matches in top flight football, a record that is still accumulating. That day, goals from Pizarro, Malouda and Essien set Chelsea on their way.
In fixtures at St Andrews, the results are surprisingly even with the record standing as follows,
Birmingham 13 wins, Chelsea 14 wins with
In Premier League fixtures only, it reads,
Birmingham 0 wins, Chelsea 2 wins with 2 draws.
Ref Watch:
Rob Styles of Waterlooville in Hampshire will officiate.
Match Prediction:
We`re going to be bold, we`re going to be brave and predict that this fixture will end in a resounding win for Chelsea. We also predict that Nicolas Anelka will get his first Chelsea goal as Chelsea win by at least two clear goals.
Next Fixtures:
Chelsea face two consecutive cup matches. On Wednesday they face Everton, at Goodison Park, in the second leg of the Carling Cup semi final defending a 2-1 lead whilst on Saturday they travel to the JJB Stadium to take on Wigan Athletic in round four of the defence of the FA Cup won at Wembley last May!