Source: Telegraph
Chelsea 3 Birmingham City 0: match report
Birmingham City arrived at the Bridge with a painstakingly, proudly constructed record of 15 unbeaten matches. A wall of formidable resistance, surely? It met a wrecking ball. [LNB]Chelsea smashed them and, once more, sit handsomely on top of the Premier League pile. Lords of the manor. It was like a house of cards being disdainfully cuffed. And Joe Cole, dancing, jinking Joe on this form, was Chelsea's ace in the pack. A diamond performance. [LNB] Related ArticlesPremier League tablePremier League actionTelegraph player raterPremier League fixturesTransfer TalkSport on televisionThat will have pleased Franco Baldini, the watching England general manager, who had come to watch Joe Hart press his claim to an international call-up, only for him to be beaten twice. [LNB]That's for the future. For now, it's domestic matters and Chelsea are looking at home. The real deal. The December blues have gone. A new year, a new hope. And all this, all these goals 16 in four matches - confidence and belief are being achieved without Didier Drogba. [LNB]Almost as remarkable as Birmingham's run going into this encounter is the [LNB]eyebrow-raising fact that manager Alex McLeish has been able to name the [LNB]same, unchanged starting XI for the last 10 of those games. This is a battle-hardened, well-drilled unit and one which, prior to the contest, [LNB]Carlo Ancelotti had expressed his concern about breaking down. 'Compact' is the word often used to describe such teams but they were not that when, on six minutes, Chelsea struck. [LNB]The goal owed much to the skill of Joe Cole, working his way to the by-line down the right flank, easily past Lee Bowyer and standing the ball up precisely inside the six yard area for Florent [LNB]Malouda to simply head back across Hart and into the net. So much for fretting about breaking Birmingham down. [LNB]It was an all-too-easy concession for a team with their defensive resilience to permit. [LNB]Maybe it was too easy for Chelsea. For, then, three times Deco surrendered possession before Ashley Cole, returning from injury, did so only for Cameron Jerome's shot to deflect off his strike partner Christian Benitez. With Petr Cech wrong-footed the ball, only just, cleared the crossbar. [LNB]Chelsea then went even closer. John Terry released Joe Cole and after his cross was blocked, the corner was swung in by Malouda. Terry met it, beating Roger Johnson to the ball at the far post, but his header struck the frame of the goal and the rebound was hooked away. [LNB]Soon after and Frank Lampard forced an alert save from Joe Hart with a first-time shot before the goalkeeper was diving to cover Joe Cole's deflected drive. [LNB]By now, Chelsea were rampant. Ancelotti, understandably, had barely alerted his team from the one which had demolished Sunderland so comprehensively in their last home league game save for Ashley Cole's return and Juliano Belletti injury. [LNB]On injuries, there was also a confirmation from Chelsea that Michael Essien will undergo an operation on his damaged knee ligaments in Paris on Thursday, although it does not alter his predicted return time of four-six weeks. [LNB]However, Ancelotti had altered his formation, back to a more fluid 'box' in midfield, with greater movement to try and drag Birmingham out of position. [LNB]It was working and, again, Hart was forced into a save, comfortably holding another Joe Cole effort. But it was wave after wave of attack. [LNB]The pressure told. And Joe Cole was, again, involved, skipping down the right before turning the ball inside to Michael Ballack who swept it on to Lampard. [LNB]The Birmingham midfield had stood off. Big mistake. Lampard steadied himself and fired a crisp, low shot across Hart and into the corner of the goal. Hart would have been disappointed to be beaten in that fashion, he appeared slow to react, even on such a greasy surface. [LNB]McLeish stood, shaking his head. His team had been unpicked, albeit by a team in rampant, relentless form and there own efforts at forward momentum were ponderous, hesitant. They had been ransacked inside the first-half. [LNB]It must have hurt McLeish. Certainly his team returned to the fray, after the interval, with more purpose but it was Chelsea threatening when, after a flowing sequence of passes Ashley Cole crossed for Ballack to head goalwards. There was direction but no power and Hart easily held on. [LNB]Ballack went closer, reaching a corner, and delicately lifting the ball goalwards only for it to sweep over the bar before Ashley Cole stubbed his shot weakly at Hart and Malouda fired wide with the goalkeeper stranded before Anelka's curling effort struck Malouda. [LNB]Birmingham, however, sensed the opportunity to haul themselves back into contention and a gilt-edged chance fell to James McFadden. Clear on goal, he dragged his low drive wide. [LNB]They pushed on. A horrendous clearance by Ricardo Carvalho led to a rising toe-poke by Keith Fahey, which Cech clawed over. Chelsea had the final say. [LNB]Malouda broke away and slipped a pass to the onrushing Lampard who, easily, beat Hart with another low, assured shot. It was some display. [LNB]
