Chelsea vs Birmingham City - FA Cup Match Preview
The first FA Cup fifth round tie of the weekend takes place Saturday lunchtime with a 12.30pm kick-off between Chelsea and Birmingham at Stamford Bridge.
The first FA Cup fifth round tie of the weekend takes place Saturday lunchtime with a 12.30pm kick-off between Chelsea and Birmingham at Stamford Bridge. The match is being televised live on ITV 1 and the tie should be interesting given Chelsea's poor run of form as of late and Birmingham City's recent run stretching to 13 games unbeaten. Andrew Villas-Boas is unlikely to risk John Terry ahead of this week's big Champions League match in Italy against Napoli. The Chelsea captain has been sidelined for three weeks with a knee injury and he only returned to training two days ago. Ashley Cole (calf) is a late doubt, whilst African Cup of Nations pair Salomon Kalou and Didier Drogba only returned to the club late this week and won't be considered until the Champions League midweek. Ramires (knee) might return to play. Birmingham City are missing strikes Nikola Zigic and Marlon King, the latter who is struggling to come through his groin complaint and has hard to play through the pain barrier way too many times in matches this season and it looks to have taken its tole. Manager Chris Hughton has said he definitely won't play today. Guirane N'Daw sits out with a hamstring problem.