>
>
Chelsea will be looking to record their third Premier League victory in a row tonight when they host relegation threatened Birmingham City.
Carlo Ancelotti recently dismissed his team’s title chances, but Manchester United could only manage a draw against Newcastle last night.
This means that the Blues can move to within six points of the league leaders if they win this evening.
With a game in hand over United and a game against them to come, Chelsea probably shouldn’t be written off yet.
It would be a great time for the Premier League holders to find their best form that is for sure. It would also be a great time for Fernando Torres to start scoring goals for the club.
Should these two things happen, it could be a very interesting twist to the Premier League title race. It would also make the game between Chelsea and Manchester United on 8th May 2011 all the more crucial.
The main focus for now needs to be Birmingham City. They need to do their job by securing three points and see where it could leave them. They can’t get ahead of themselves at this stage.
Dropped points this evening and it really is all over for them, so tonight is a significant evening that could shape the focus of Chelsea’s remaining few games.
As for Birmingham, their aim is simple – to secure Premier League survival. They do have a cushion of five points between themselves and the bottom three at present, but things can change very quickly in this league and Alex McLeish will be aware of that.
It only takes a couple of games without a win for Birmingham to be right back in the relegation mix again, so they need to approach this game with Chelsea in a positive manner.
Realistically they aren’t expected to get anything from Stamford Bridge, but if they can get a positive result it would be a massive bonus ahead of this weekend’s trip to Liverpool.
Looking at the team news for this one, Chelsea will be without Ramires and Alex who have both failed to recover in time. Branislav Ivanovic is also a doubt for the home side.
With regards to Birmingham Jean Beausejour is available after recovering from a hamstring strain, while Cameron Jerome is expected to continue upfront in the absence of Nikola Zigic.
There is no doubt that Chelsea are favourites to record a comfortable home victory, but there season has had plenty of twists and turns so far and you just know there is more drama to come.
