Chelsea lay in wait for Birmingham’s unbeatables

Chelsea could go back to the top of the Premier League with  victory against Birmingham providing Arsenal fail to match their  result at seventh-placed Aston Villa, the first of a daunting  series of fixtures for Arsene Wenger’s side.

Both Arsenal and Chelsea have 48 points and an identical  goal difference, such is the closeness of the race to snatch the  league title away from leaders Manchester United who have 50  points but have played more games.

Strikers Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou will not be  available for Carlo Ancelotti’s side despite the Ivory Coast’s  surprise defeat by Algeria in the African Nations Cup but  Chelsea have done pretty well without them, scoring seven  against Sunderland in their last league match.

Nicolas Anelka’s form has made light of Drogba’s absence.

“Nicolas is definitely as good as any centre forward in  England at the moment,” assistant manager Ray Wilkins said after  Chelsea’s 2-0 FA Cup win at Preston North End on Saturday. “He’s  playing some of the best football of his career. Nico has always  been a wonderful footballer but he’s added more to his game.”

Birmingham will present a severe test for Chelsea and will  arrive full of confidence after a 2-1 FA Cup victory at Everton  had fans singing “We are unbeatable”.

“Belief has a powerful impact in a dressing room and these  players should realise the power they’ve got now,” manager Alex  McLeish told The Times.

“Individually, you can have one or two mavericks in a team  who can win you games, but they won’t win you as many games as  when you’ve got a dressing room as full of the power that I’ve  got in mine.”

Arsenal saw another chance of silverware vanish on Sunday  when a below-strength side lost 3-1 to Stoke City in the FA Cup  — a result that means Wenger’s side can focus solely on the  title chase and Champions League.

The north Londoners are unbeaten in the league since late  November. However, with Villa away, followed by United at home  on Sunday, Chelsea away and Liverpool at home, the Gunners are  entering a period which could make or break their season.

“It is important for us to focus on the next four games  because we in an interesting position and of course on Wednesday  night we have a very important game at Villa,” Wenger, who drew  some criticism from fans for picking a weakened side at Stoke,  told Arsenal’s website (www.arsenal.com).

Wenger said defenders Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen and  Gael Clichy would be available for the trip to Villa after they  were rested at the weekend.