The Blues will once again be without John Terry who is struggling with a knee injury, and Ramires is back after three weeks out.
Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou are both back from the African Nations Cup after Ivory Coast’s loss to Zambia in the final.
On a positive Ashley Cole should be fit to play but will need to pass a late fitness test.
Birmingham will have to do without strikers Nikola Zigic and Marlon King, the former has a knee problem and the latter has a groin injury.
They are also missing Guirane N’Daw who has a hamstring strain.
Form
Whilst Drogba has been away, Fernando Torres has failed to score a single goal and has come udder a lot of criticism.
Chelsea are coming off the back of their shocking 2-0 defeat against Everton last week, a display that AVB classed as his team’s worst since he’s taken charge.
In contrast Birmingham are on a run of 13 matches without a loss but will have their work cut out to leave Stamford Bridge with a win.
Head-to-Head
Last season the Blues won 3-1 in the Premier League clash at the Bridge but lost 1-0 at St Andrews.
There has only been one FA Cup meeting in the decade, which saw Chelsea run out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Robert Huth and John Terry.
Betting
Daniel Sturridge has an excellent record in the FA Cup for Chelsea, so far he’s scored six times from five starts – He’s 9/2 to score first.
Lamps is 5s and Romelu Lukaku is 6s to open the scoring.
For over 3.5 goals you can get odds of 6/4, alternatively it’s 4/7 for over 2.5 goals.
Chelsea are 1/3 to win, but more attractive odds are 4/5 for the team to be winning at half-time.
By Scott Balaam
Twitter @AStamBridge2Far
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