Chelsea v Birmingham Betting – Lampard a doubt for Premier League match

Chelsea will look to reclaim their top spot in the Premier League, after being leap-frogged by both Arsenal and Manchester United. Chelsea are on 48 points, two behind leaders United, but have two games in hand over Alex Ferguson’s men. They can give themselves a huge advantage by leaping one point ahead with a win over Birmingham at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. Boss Carlo Ancelotti has injury worries over Frank Lampard, and is hopefully that he will be fully fit as Chelsea push on with their title charge. Lampard was withdrawn early from their FA Cup victory over Preston on the weekend, as a precaution over his fitness.

Some good news for Chelsea is that Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou are heading home, after favourites Ivory Coast crashed out of the African Cup of Nations to England’s World Cup opponents, Algeria. That will boost the challenge of the Blues, not that they have struggled without the big centre forward, as Nicolas Anelka has been in possibly the most sparkling form of his career. He won’t be back in time to make Wednesday’s line-up, but should make a return to action on the weekend. First the London side need to find a way to overcome Birmingham, who are proving that they are no pushovers in the league this year. Bad news from the African Cup of Nations, is that influential midfielder Michael Essien will be missing for up to 6 weeks after picking up an injury.

Under Alex McLeish, Birmingham have recently gained draws against both Manchester United and Chelsea. They have climbed to seventh in the Premier League and are on a fantastic unbeaten run of 12 Premier League games without defeat. That is a club record for the Midlanders, and having been the first team to stop Chelsea scoring this season in a 0-0 draw, they will be hoping for more of the same at the Bridge. Chelsea have the best home record in the Premier League and Birmingham will meet the Blues in a confident mood, having found the back of the net 14 times in the last three matches.

Birmingham, thanks to a lot of consistency, should field the same side which they have done for the large part of the season. They had been in the hunt for Liverpool’s Ryan Babel to boost their scoring, but nothing has come of that of yet. Instead they have confirmed that they want to sign Ranger’s striker Kris Boyd to look for more potency up front. Birmingham have only scored 9 home goals all season, so there is a lot of room for improvement. McLeish has already signed a new playmaker for midfield, with Michel joining them from Spanish side Sporting Gijon. He won’t be available for Wednesday night’s match though.

BETTING STATS

Last 5 Head to Head
Birmingham 0, Chelsea 0
Birmingham 1, Chelsea 1
Chelsea 3, Birmingham 2
Birmingham 0, Chelsea 0
Chelsea 2, Birmingham 0

Last 5 League Match Goals
Chelsea – 12 For, 5 Against
Birmingham – 5 For, 3 Against

Last 10 Matches Form
Chelsea – W6, D3, L1
Birmingham – W6, D4, L0

Win Percentage
Chelsea have a 90.9 win percentage at home
Birmingham have a 40.0 win percentage away from home

Match Prices:
Chelsea to win: 5/19 at Expekt
Draw: 5/1 at SkyBet
Birmingham to win: 14/1 at Totesport

Betting Advice: Two thoughts come to mind when looking at this game. One, is that Birmingham’s great unbeated run has to end some time, and the second is that Chelsea won’t like having been pushed down into third. Even with the games in hand they have, it should give them enough incentive to put on a confident display. Both factors lean heavily towards backing a comfortable Chelsea win at Stamford Bridge, even though Birmingham are tight at the back.
Over 2.5 Goals: Evens at Coral