McLeish wary of Chelsea response

Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish is hoping history will repeat when his side plays host to Chelsea at St Andrew’s on Saturday.

In the corresponding fixture last season, Birmingham held the reigning English Premier League champions to a 0-0 draw and were unlucky not to snatch all three points.

But Chelsea travel to Birmingham on the back of two losses – including a shock 3-0 league defeat to Sunderland on Sunday – and McLeish expects them to be fired up for their encounter with City.

“Big teams don’t tend to lose too many games in succession so I don’t know if (Sunderland boss) Steve Bruce has done me any favours by winning that one,” McLeish said.

“But we are in our own back yard and we have to believe that this is achievable. We have got to believe that.”

“We have got to ensure that Chelsea are going back on the coach saying that St Andrew’s is a tough place to go to.”

“We know that it is achievable. We can do it, we are capable of doing it.”

“Chelsea have some injury problems – we have one or two as well – but they still have phenomenal players in their side and they can easily turn it on when they want.”

“If there is an opportunity for us we have got to grasp it. It is a great challenge for us this weekend.”

With several key players missing training this week because of their involvement in international friendlies, McLeish will assess their readiness as they return.

Chilean winger Jean Beausejour will not arrive home from South America until Friday afternoon, though on-loan Barcelona midfielder Alexandra Hleb was able to take on extra training sessions this week.

While most managers bemoan the international break, McLeish took heart from the form of towering Serbian striker Nikola Zigic, who scored the only goal in his country’s 1-0 win over Bulgaria.

“Zigic scored a good goal, he ran through two defenders took it on his chest and slotted it away – so I’m looking for him to do more of that for us,” McLeish said.

“He’s played well for us in recent weeks he has adapted to the pace a little bit. The aggression side of things has to be even more intense and he is still settling in though he has shown he can do something for us.”