Our poor away form continued as we lost against Birmingham in the Premiership on Saturday afternoon, or did it?

Despite battering the Birmingham defence we somehow managed to leak a goal with the only real effort on target. It was a classic snatch and grab.

Birmingham keeper Ben Foster earned all three points for Birmingham with a string of good saves to deny Anelka, Drogba, Malouda and others, as Chelsea were at times camped in the Birmingham half.

Despite some often excellent attacking play, Chelsea were defeated by some determined defending, great goalkeeping, and some luck.

Carlo Ancelotti reflected post match, stating; “It is not good, I think that when you deserve to lose you have to lose, as against Sunderland. When you deserve to win you have to win. We didn’t win because I think we were unlucky.”

“I have to say nothing to my team because everyone showed good spirit, good attitude, everyone wants to win, we played good football, had a lot of chances, but we lost,” said the Italian. “It is a difficult moment but we don’t have to lose confidence.”

“I was really disappointed with the performance against Sunderland, but this is different, just with the result. We have to know this is football and it’s important to maintain confidence in our play and our ability. It is difficult to explain this defeat.”

He added; “It is easier to explain a defeat against Arsenal, because we played a poor game, they played better but today was different. Chelsea played a fantastic game and deserved to win.”

Reflecting on the moment we lost the match, Ancelotti said; “We lost the player that ran in the box, Bowyer ran in the box without control and maybe there was a mistake, but just one during the game. Didier had a lot of opportunities but at the moment he is not so lucky.”

“We have to know that in one season it can happen to have this moment but I already said to my players don’t lose confidence, we have to worry when we don’t play good football but when we play good football… as we showed today we don’t have to be worried”

Chelsea(4-3-3): Cech; Ferreira (Bosingwa 64), Alex, Ivanovic, Cole; Ramires (Sturridge 72), Mikel, Malouda; Kalou, Drogba (c), Anelka.

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Around 20 shots on goal, over 15 corners and despite having Drogba, Anelka, Kalou, Malouda and Sturridge on the pitch, we still couldn’t find a way to put the ball in the back of the net.

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Considering many of us were wondering how we’d have a defence up until January, the news that Alex can play, and Terry may be back for Newcastle, is more than welcome.

Considering we played with four recognised full backs at Sunderland, and were roundly spanked, the thought of having to see through some big games, and our traditionally tricky Christmas fixtures was a worry.

However after sitting on the bench for Brazil mid-week, and with an operation able to be postponed, Alex is available for selection.

Speaking to TOCFCWS Alex said; “I need surgery, and maybe after the game I will go to Brazil and do the operation on Thursday. Arthroscopic surgery is easy to do, and I can play on Saturday to help the team. We have too many players injured, so I said to the coach I can play. I am not 100 percent fit but I can play.”

“On the training pitch it is good, no problem, I have done some light sessions, I trained on Friday and it is okay, I am ready to help my team and to help them win. It is an important game for us, a difficult game, and we need to win.”

One player that does miss out though is Yuri Zhirkov, who returned from international duty with an injury. So as Carlo has so few players to chose from, he said that only the right back position is not yet chosen, with either Ferreira or Bosingwa to be decided upon.

The remainder of the team will be Cech in goal, Ivanovic and Alex at the back, with Cole left back. Mikel, Malouda and Ramires will be the middle three, with Malouda replacing Yuri, and a front three of Anelka, Kalou and Drogba.

Speaking ahead of the match, Ancelotti stated; “We need to move on immediately and to have a reaction. We want to forget Sunderland with a fantastic performance, we can play well and maintain the top of the table. The championship unfortunately does not finish tomorrow. If tomorrow was the last game then I think we would have a lot of possibility to win the title, but we have to play a lot of games again.”

“This is an important game for us, we are not putting our head in the sand. This is important because we can move on quickly from the defeat or we can stay in the difficult moment. It depends on us.”

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Chelsea rolled Birmingham with ease, winning 3-0 at home to continue our excellent run of form. Frank Lampard scored twice and Florent Malouda netted a header as our clinical finish proved too much for Birmingham.

It took all of four minutes for Chelsea to take the lead. Joe Cole beat Bowyer for pace on the right, before standing up a cross that was easily headed in by the unmarked Malouda.

Lampard, Joe Cole and Deco all forced solid saves out of Joe Hart, but there was to be no repeating of his Boxing Day heroics, as Lampard doubled Chelsea’s lead just before half time.

Picking up Ballack’s cleverly disguised ball, Lampard smashed a 25 yard strike across Hart and into the bottom corner.

The second half saw Cech forced into a sharp reaction save to tip over Fahey’s effort, but it was still largely one way traffic. Fittingly, with a minute to go, Lampard put the icing on the cake with the third goal.

Deco and Malouda were involved as Chelsea counter attacked, but it was Lampard who finished the move off, smashing a left footed finish past the stranded Hart and into the bottom corner. For a player under a large injury could pre match, it was a strong performance from the Chelsea number 8.

Burnley are next on the radar and with Didier Drogba possibly back in action, the positives are only accentuated for Ancelotti’s Chelsea.

Chelsea host Birmingham City in the Premier League tonight having slipped to third in the league, albeit with a game in hand over Arsenal and two over the leaders Manchester United.

Chelsea cruised past Preston North End in the FA Cup on the weekend and in their previous league match, defeated Sunderland 7-2. Birmingham won 2-1 at Goodison Park to knock Everton out and in their last league game, they drew 1-1 with Manchester United.

Chelsea will be missing Juliano Belletti and possibly Frank Lampard as well as the still missing African contingent. Birmingham City have defender Craig Gardner available after his recent signing.

These two sides played out a 0-0 draw in their previous meeting at St. Andrews on Boxing Day, a match which saw an inspired performance from Birmingham goalkeeper Joe Hart prevent a big Chelsea win.

Chelsea have scored 14 goals in their last six matches, sans Didier Drogba, whislt Birmingham are on a club record run of 12 matches undefeated in the league. Interestingly, they are also the only team to keep Chelsea from scoring all season.

Chelsea last hosted Birmingham back in August 2007, a match which saw Chelsea twice come from behind to secure a 3-2 victory. Mikael Forssell was one of the Birmingham scorers that day, whilst the long forgotten Claudio Pizzarro scored for the home side.

Ladbrokes has Chelsea a very short priced favourite at 1/4 for this fixture, whilst the draw is paying a reasonable handsome 9/2. A Birmingham victory is justifiably paying a juicy 11/1.