Blues put in a first class performance to earn themselves a deserved 0-0 draw against Chelsea at St. Andrew's on Boxing Day.
And despite the lack of goals it was a thoroughly entertaining encounter.
Blues' clean sheet also meant they were the first side to deny Chelsea a goal since Barcelona in April - some 34 games ago.
Alex McLeish was able to name the same starting XI for a seventh successive game, after Roger Johnson and Liam Ridgewell both overcame the slight knocks they had picked up at Everton.
On a crisp afternoon Chelsea took the unusual step of kicking off the first half towards their own fans in the Gil Merrick stand.
Within 30 seconds of the start Blues created their first opening of the match when Cameron Jerome burst through, but under pressure from Alex he fired wide from eight yards.
It had looked as if the Blues front man's shot had been deflected but referee Peter Walton pointed for a goal kick.
Stung by their early scare Chelsea started to stamp some authority on the play in the centre of the pitch and push Blues back towards their own goal on a regular basis.
This pressure almost told on 11 minutes when Branislav Ivanovic rose above the Blues defence to head Florent Malouda's corner ball onto the roof of Joe Hart's net.
Blues' next chance came in the 14th minute when Chucho was upended 25 yards from the Chelsea goal, but Seb Larsson was unable to clear the visitors' wall with his free kick.
On 23 minutes Didier Drogba fired just wide for Chelsea with a fierce volley.
Then a minute later Joe Hart produced a phenomenal diving save to tip Daniel Sturridge's stinging 20 yard effort round the post for a corner.
Hart was the goalkeeping hero again minutes later when he denied Frank Lampard from six yards out, after Lampard beat the offside trap.
Blues thought they had taken the lead just on the half hour mark, but were left disappointed to see Chucho's effort ruled out for offside by the assistant referee.
The move had started when Stephen Carr crossed the ball to the far post. It was headed back across the area, where Ridgewell stabbed it towards the goal and Chucho knocked it in the back of the net from half a yard out.
Replays subsequently showed that the Ecuadorian striker appeared to be played onside by didier Drogba but the officials thought otherwise
This passage of play certainly gave Blues some belief and they began to dominate the proceedings in the later stages of the half.
Liam Ridgewell headed over from 12 yards and then Larsson saw an effort blocked from the edge of the box.
The Blues fans were then in uproar when Cameron Jerome was penalised for a foul when it looked like he had burst through on the Chelsea box.
On 42 minutes Chelsea were awarded a free kick some 35 yards out after Lee Bowyer fouled Florent Malouda.
Alex stepped up and hit a venomous effort which was tipped onto his own crossbar by Hart and came back out into play.
Right in the last few seconds of the half Drogba provided a superb cross from the right which Sturridge snatched just wide of the far post to the relief of the majority of the sell out crowd.
Half time: Blues 0 Chelsea 0
McLeish's men started the second half brightly, but it was Carlo Ancelottis side who hade the first chance on 54 minutes.
The usually superb Stephen Carr allowed Frank Lampard's ball to go through his legs on the edge of the box to Ashley Cole, but just as the Chelsea full back let go with a close range shot Roger Johnson was there to block it.
On 59 minutes a piece of skilful dribbling on the edge of the Chelsea box saw Chucho create a yard of space for himself, before hitting a fine goal bound curling shot which was headed away by England captain John Terry.
Just after the hour mark Chucho was hacked down on the edge of the visitors' box by Malouda, earning the Chelsea man a caution.
From the resultant free kick Larsson stepped up and hit a sweet free kick that was heading straight into the top corner before Cech tipped it away for a corner, but crashed into the post as he did so.
Next to try his luck was Lee Bowyer who saw his 18 yard shot deflected behind for another corner.
With two minutes of normal time remaining Malouda received his second yellow card of the game and was sent back to the dressing room.
Despite playing six minutes of stoppage time Blues were unable to capitalise on the extra man advantage and had to content themselves with a 0-0 draw against the Premier League leaders
Full time: Blues 0 Chelsea 0
Blues: Joe Hart, Stephen Carr, Lee Bowyer, Liam Ridgewell, Sebastian Larsson (Damien Johnson, 87), Cameron Jerome, Chucho, Barry Ferguson, Roger Johnson, Scott Dann, James McFadden (Keith Fahey, 76).
Subs not used: Maik Taylor, Kevin Phillips, Gary McSheffrey, Lee Carsley, Gregory Vignal.
Bookings: Bowyer (70)
Chelsea: Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard (Joe Cole, 78), Didier Drogba, John Obi Mikel (Michael Ballack, 84), Florent Malouda, Daniel Sturridge (Salomon Kalou, 66) John Terry, John Terry, Alex, Juliano Belletti.
Subs from: Hilario, Ricardo Carvalho, Yuri Zhirkov, Paulo Ferreira, Salomon Kalou.
Bookings: Malouda (61), Ivanovic (78)
Sent off: Malouda (88)
Attendance: 28.958
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