Alan Hansen’s Premier League Preview: Chelsea v Birmingham

Birmingham’s 12-match unbeaten run in the Premier League is under serious threat this week as they face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. A positive result for Alex McLeish’s team will see them equal Nottingham Forest’s 13-match unbeaten league run for a newly promoted team which was achieved in back in 1995.

Birmingham have not tasted defeat in any competition since their last trip to London when Arsenal beat them 3-1 at the Emirates. This run includes two FA Cup games against the Championship’s form side Nottingham Forest plus another superb win away at Everton at the weekend. Chelsea are also full of confidence but there will be no repeat of the goal-fest that the Blues enjoyed against Sunderland last time out as both these teams know how to defend properly.

Birmingham have never managed to beat Chelsea in the Premier League having lost six and drew five of the eleven previous meetings. The Second City side have actually failed to score in eight of those games including the 0-0 draw at St Andrews’ on Boxing Day. Chelsea are the only side that has been able to stop Birmingham scoring in the last ten league games although McLeish’s team are not particularly high scorers themselves as they are the 5th lowest scorers in the top flight.

City have not managed to defeat Chelsea for 30 years. The last occasion was a 5-1 home league win in the old Divison Two back in March 1980. In fact, Birmingham did the double over the West Londoners that season with a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge in September 1979. Cliff Richard was number one in the charts with ‘We don’t talk anymore’. Jim Smith was the victorious Birmingham manager but this home defeat for Chelsea ended Danny Blanchflower’s managerial reign as he was replaced five days later by 1966 World Cup hero Geoff Hurst. I don’t see a repeat of that win this week as although Birmingham are playing superbly, Chelsea are too and their superior firepower should just give them the edge.

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Birmingham have been the surprise package of the Premier League this season and their success has been built on their superb defence. Goalkeeper Joe Hart has been excellent as has the centre-half pairing of Roger Johnson and Scott Dann. As a defender myself I have been hugely impressed by that duo’s performances. They are both real defenders, no-nonsense players who have built up a terrific understanding at the heart of the Birmingham defence. It goes to show that there is talent in the lower divisions if you are willing to give players like Johnson and Dann a chance. Alex McLeish did just that and he is now reaping the benefits.

The Birmingham defence will face a tough test of their credentials against a Chelsea team that has scored an average of 3.1 league goals at the Bridge this season. Nicolas Anelka has been superb and young striker Daniel Sturridge is coming into his own in Didier Drogba’s absence. These are just a few of the many goal threats in this Chelsea squad that the McLeish’s team will face. Although Birmingham kept a clean-sheet against Ancelotti’s team at St Andrews’; it is worth noting that Chelsea still managed to muster 30 efforts at goal in that match. Birmingham will defend for their lives yet again and it may take a mistake or a world-class goal for Chelsea to make the breakthrough but I think they will do just that.

This will be a tight match between two of the Premier League’s meanest defences but although McLeish’s side will take some breaking down, Chelsea have the players to do it. Therefore, I’m backing a narrow home win for Carlo Ancelotti’s side with a £45,000 Premier 10 rollover jackpot up for grabs.

Tags: Alan Hansen, Birmingham, Chelsea, Football betting, Football Pools, online betting, Premier 10, Premier League

This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 12:08 and is filed under Features, Home Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.