Chelsea v Birmingham preview

Published Apr. 19, 2011 9:15 a.m. ET

foxsports

Alex and Ramires have failed to recover from hamstring injuries and will miss out for Chelsea. The Brazilian duo were expected to be fit after sitting out Saturday's 3-1 win at West Brom but will now be unavailable until after this weekend's clash with West Ham. Branislav Ivanovic is doubtful with a muscle strain, which was due to be assessed on Tuesday. Birmingham winger Jean Beausejour is back in contention. The Chile international missed the 1-1 draw at Blackburn and the 2-0 home success over Sunderland at the weekend with a hamstring strain. City boss Alex McLeish, whose side defeated Chelsea 1-0 at St Andrew's in November, has no fresh injury concerns, but strikers Nikola Zigic and Obafemi Martins plus defender Martin Jiranek remain sidelined with groin problems. Chelsea (from): Cech, Bosingwa, Ferreira, Terry, Luiz, Ivanovic, Zhirkov, Cole, Mikel, Essien, Lampard, Benayoun, Kalou, Malouda, Anelka, Torres, Drogba, Turnbull. Birmingham (from): Foster, Carr, Johnson, Ridgewell, Parnaby, Larsson, Gardner, Ferguson, Bowyer, Jerome, Phillips, Doyle, Hleb, Fahey, Derbyshire, Mutch, Davies, Bentley, Beausejour.