Birmingham City vs Chelsea - FA Cup Match Preview

Birmingham City welcome Chelsea to St. Andrew's tonight for the FA Cup fifth-round replay where a winner must be decided on the night, extra time and penalties available if needed. Kick-off is at 7.45pm. Birmingham manager Chris Hughton is facing a striker crisis with several key members of the squad unavailable for tonight's cup match. Defenders Stephen Carr (knee), David Murphy (hips), Steve Caldwell (ribs) are all sidelined, with Curtis Davies out with an illness. Peter Ramage is cup-tied for the match leaving Pablo Ibanez as the only fit senior centre-half. In midfield it doesn't get much easier with Keith Fahey (groin) injured and Andros Townsend cup-tied. Up front Erik Huseklepp is also cup-tied whilst Caleb Folan is ineligible to face his parent club Chelsea. For Roberto Di Matteo's first match in charge of Chelsea, defender Ashley Cole is a doubt after coming off in the weekend defeat at the Hawthorns. He faces a late fitness test. Jose Bosingwa (hamstring) misses out as does Ross Turnbull (ankle), with Captain John Terry also sidelined with a knee injury.

Line-ups from;

Birmingham (from): Doyle, Myhill, Spector, Davies, Ibanez, Burke, Mutch, N'Daw, King, Zigic, Redmond, Gomis, Elliott, Rooney, Deaman, Packwood, Riley, Jervis. Chelsea (from): Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Cahill, Cole, Bertrand, Romeu, Mikel, Essien, Ramires, Lampard, Mata, Malouda, Meireles, Drogba, Torres, Sturridge, Kalou, Hilario.