Chelsea v Birmingham Betting Preview
- By Jaymes Monte on April 19, 2011 13:24 GMT
Chelsea host Birmingham City this Wednesday evening hoping to keep their faint Premier League title aspirations alive by picking up all three points.
The Pensioners bounced back from their disappointing Champions League exit with a 3-1 win over West Bromwich Albion at the weekend as goals from Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Frank Lampard moved them to within eight points of league leaders Manchester United.
At the same time Birmingham eased their relegation worries with a 2-0 victory over Sunderland that saw them leapfrog their opponents in the table and establish a five point gap between themselves and the relegation zone.
Brazilian duo Ramires and Alex are unavailable for Chelsea as the pair have failed to recover from injuries that caused them to sit out the weekend win. Branislav Ivanovic is also doubtful after he suffered a muscle strain.
Birmingham manager Alex McLeish could welcome back Jean Beausejour after the winger recovered from a hamstring strain but Nikola Zigic is still unavailable.
Although Chelsea will continue to battle until it is mathematically impossible to retain their Premier League title betting odds of 12/1 accurately reflect their slim chances of doing so. A more realistic target will be to finish above Arsenal in second place, a feat they are priced at 10/11 to achieve.
The home side are quoted at a short 2/9 for the three points here with the draw priced at 11/2 and Birmingham rank outsiders at 14/1.
Given their forlorn title aspiration the emphasis in these final games of the season is likely to be on working on a system that can get the best out of Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba and the still-goalless Fernando Torres concurrently.
All three can be backed at odds-on prices to find the back of the net this Wednesday.
Carlo Ancelotti’s position as Chelsea manager is thought to be precarious, despite winning the domestic double last season. Finishing the season as positively as possible is all that the manager can now do in order to enhance his chances of still being in the job next season.
