Birmingham City v Chelsea

Chelsea will be without striker Nicolas Anelka for both their Christmas games, against Birmingham on St Stephen's Day and Fulham on Monday.

Anelka misses out with a muscle problem while Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou look set to miss the game against Fulham to link up with the Ivory Coast ahead of the African Nations Cup next month.

Michael Essien (hamstring) and Jose Bosingwa (knee) have long-term injuries.

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish is hopeful key defenders Roger Johnson and Liam Ridgewell will be fit.

Centre-back and lifelong Chelsea fan Johnson and left-back Ridgewell suffered knee and ankle knocks respectively during the 1-1 draw with Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday.

Johnson has been ever present in City's 18 league games since his £5million move from Cardiff during the summer while Ridgewell has impressed since being converted from a central defender into his current role.

If the duo recover, Birmingham are expected to be unchanged for the seventh successive game.

Chelsea squad: Cech, Hilario, Turnbull, Ivanovic, Belletti, Alex, Carvalho, Terry, A Cole, Lampard, Ballack, Obi, Malouda, J Cole, Zhirkov, Drogba, Kalou, Kakuta, Bruma, Borini, Sturridge, Matic.

Birmingham squad: Hart, Carr, Roger Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Larsson, Ferguson, Bowyer, McFadden, Jerome, Benitez, Maik Taylor, Fahey, Vignal, Carsley, Phillips, McSheffrey, Damien Johnson, Queudrue, Parnaby.