Alex McLeish's team are likely to have their 15 game unbeaten run put under real pressure this evening as they face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in a Barclays Premier League fixture.

Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea have the best home record in the top flight, having won ten and drawn one of their 11 games on home turf.

The only team to take points off them are Everton who drew 3-3 back in December.

Blues are currently in eighth spot in the table with 33 points from their 21 games. Chelsea occupy third place with 48 points from the same number of matches as Blues

TEAM NEWS
Blues
New signing Craig Gardner is ineligible to play as his transfer was not completed in time to be registered for the Chelsea game.

Cameron Jerome is back in contention for a starting role alongside Christian Benitez after recovering from the ankle injury, which saw him miss Blues' trip to Goodison Park at the weekend.

Fellow strikers Kevin Phillips (groin) and Garry O'Connor (hip) will miss out.

Stuart Parnaby, David Murphy, Gregory Vignal and Teemu Tainio are all edging ever closer to full fitness, but boss Alex McLeish is likely to give them additional time before including them in his first team squad.

Lee Carsley is still out with an ankle injury.

Frank Lampard

Chelsea
England midfielder Frank Lampard has overcome the calf problem he picked up during Chelsea's FA Cup win against Preston at the weekend and is expected to start tonight.

Full back Ashley Cole is also back after recovering from an ankle injury

Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou have returned from the Africa Cup of Nations although they are likely to be rested until Chelsea's next game on Saturday.

Juliano Belletti is out with a calf problem. Jose Bosingwa and Michael Essien both have knee injuries.

LINE-UPS LAST LEAGUE MATCH
Blues: (Drew 1-1 v Man Utd, a): Hart; Carr, Dann, R Johnson, Ridgewell, Bowyer, Larsson (Fahey 84), Ferguson, Jerome, Benitez, McFadden. Subs not used: Martin Taylor, Maik Taylor, Phillips, McSheffrey, Queudrue, Parnaby.

Chelsea (Won 7-2 v Sunderland, h): Cech; Ivanovic, Carvalho, Terry (Alex 46), A Cole (Zhirkov 46); Ballack, Belletti, Lampard, J Cole, Anelka, Malouda. Subs not used: Hilario, Ferreira, Sturridge, Matic, Borini.

MANAGER'S COMMENTS
Alex McLeish

Alex McLeish

"I think everybody is waiting for us to get beat but we've just kept going.

"I've got to take my hat off to the players for the fantastic strength and courage they've got within their own dressing room.

"To come back from Chelsea with anything would be a great achievement, but we're under no illusions about the task ahead of us.

"It will be a really difficult game but if we can frustrate Chelsea and we can have some threat of our own then we've got to believe that we can come back up north with a decent result.

"We won't be favourites to win this one that's for sure.

"Chelsea are in great form as well but we've gone to Old Trafford, the Emirates, to Anfield, places like Everton and Tottenham and played well.

"We may not have taken a lot of points at these places but we gave good performances and didn't look as if we were out of our depth in any way shape or form and it gave the players great confidence and belief in themselves.

"But we know on any given day teams like Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal they can embarrass you, but hopefully we can bring a positive result back to St. Andrew's."

Carlo Ancelotti

Carlo Ancelotti
"I think that it will be important to win.

"We need three more points and it will be difficult - everyone knows the quality of Birmingham.

"We have to stay focused with three games in one week.

"They have not lost for 15 games; they are having a fantastic, unbelievable season.

"It's important for us to have a very good performance, the same as against Sunderland we hope, because we play a very compact team.

"It's important to move the ball quickly against them; they can stay compact for 90 minutes.

"This will be the difficulty of this game.

"Without Didier (Drogba) here we have a possibility to put in other fantastic players.

"We have Nicolas (Anelka) and also (Daniel) Sturridge who is doing very well in this month."

Referee Steve Bennett

MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Referee Steve Bennett will take charge of tonight's game.

The Kent-based official has refereed 17 games so far this season, in which he has produced a total of 63 yellow cards and two reds.

He has already taken charge of two Blues games this term - the recent 0-0 draw against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground in the third round of the FA Cup and Blues' 2-1 Barclays Premier League home defeat against Bolton in September.

In the Forest fixture he booked two players including Blues' Joe Hart and in the Bolton game he booked three players including Stephen Carr and Roger Johnson for Blues.

Mr Bennett will be assisted by Martin Yerby from Kent and Stuart Burt from Northamptonshire.

HEAD TO HEAD
The two sides last met just over a month ago at St. Andrew's, when the game finished goalless.

Chelsea had the greater number of chances although it was Alex McLeish's side who should have won the game after seeing Christian Benitez's first half goal ruled out for offside, despite replays showing that Didier Drogba played him on.

That result ended Chelsea's run of scoring in 34 consecutive games.

For the last Blues victory against the Pensioners you need to go back to 1980.

Blues trounced the London outfit 5-1 at St. Andrew's in the old second division.

BETTING
Being the home team and one of the favourites to win the Barclays Premier League Chelsea are odds on to win tonight's encounter at 1/4 with Bet365.

The draw is priced at 9/2 and a Blues win at 12/1.

If you fancy Alex McLeish's side to come away from the Bridge with a 1-0 win you can get an impressive 20/1.

For the full range of markets available click here.

Remember every bet you make with Bet365 benefits the club.

MATCH COMMENTARY
You can listen to full 90 minutes commentary from Stamford Bridge on Blues Player.

To access Blues player, please click HERE.

The official website, bcfc.com, will have a match report on the site minutes after the final whistle.

WEATHER FORECAST
The weather forecast for this evening in London is light rain from 6pm with a minimum temperature of three degrees Centigrade.

TICKETS
We have been supplied with an allocation of approximately 1,400 tickets for this fixture.

There are approximately 400 tickets remaining from this allocation and these can be purchased from Stamford Bridge prior to the game.

Ticket Prices:
Upper Tier
Adult - £48.00
Over 65's & Under 16's - £20.00

Lower Tier
Adult - £45.00
Over 65's & Under 16's - £20.00

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