Mixed week: Foster celebrates with Birmingham fans
three days after suffering defeat with England
Long time coming: Lee Bowyer slots away his first goal
in a year to condemn Chelsea to their second successive league
defeat
Goalkeeper Ben Foster
returned from England duty an inspired man at St Andrew’s yesterday
to darken the gloom unexpectedly settling over Chelsea. As darkness fell, and a swirling mist
rolled across Birmingham, Chelsea had suddenly become a club who have lost
their way.
A second defeat in six days,
and their third loss in four matches, has decimated the dominance
Carlo Ancelotti’s team had on the Premier League. Only goal
difference keeps them above Manchester United.
But this is a distortion
of Chelsea’s state of health. It overlooks how
comprehensively they overran Birmingham and ignores the possibilities that on a more
fair afternoon, they might have been celebrating a win that would
have placed fear into the hearts of rivals.
Michael Essien will be back
from suspension to reclaim control of the midfield one match from
now; and in a fortnight Ancelotti will again have Frank Lampard.
John Terry’s back injury sidelined him after he missed the defeat
by Sunderland
at Stamford Bridge, but he is expected to be back sooner than
first thought.
‘We will watch
John day by day, while Frank should be ready in two
more weeks,’ said Ancelotti. ‘They are important players but, if
you look at the performance, we didn’t miss them today.’
Chelsea’s only misfortune was to meet Foster playing
with such conviction, composure and maturity.
Birmingham boss Alex McLeish, proud of not just his
keeper but the work-rate of a team orchestrated by Barry Ferguson’s
enthusiasm, said: ‘I’ve always stressed the importance of having a
good goalkeeper. They can win you a championship but they can also
help keep you in this division.’
There was not much wrong
with Chelsea’s football or their spirit. But they came up
against Foster, who showed no side-effects after being criticised
for being beaten at his near post by Karim Benzema in
England’s defeat by France in midweek.
Salomon Kalou should have
capitalised on Foster’s secondminute indecision when he failed to
gather the ball in his six-yard box but, once he had survived that
indiscretion, he proved to be a colossus. An early five-pass move
involving Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Florent Malouda and
Kalou set Didier Drogba clear but, as the striker opened his body
to place his shot, Foster smartly dived to his left to brilliantly
deny him.
The importance of
Foster’s work was enhanced when Birmingham went ahead. There was an
unaccountable sloppiness about Chelsea when Sebastian Larsson delivered a cross from
the right. Cameron Jerome won his aerial duel with Ivanovic and
unmarked Lee Bowyer hooked the ball past Petr Czech. Worse was to follow as Foster continued his
master-class.
A Nicolas Anelka cross was met
with a powerful header by Drogba, but Foster deflected the ball
around his near post. It was a save of exceptional quality. He then
denied Drogba by diving to flick the striker’s 30-yard free-kick
around the same post. And on the one occasion when Drogba got the
better of Foster with another magnificent header, the crossbar
denied him.
McLeish’s team withdrew into a
compact shape to shield their lead after the interval. Yet Foster’s
day was not quite over. Kalou appeared to have wriggled past him
but, without the ball under full control, he was dispossessed by
the keeper. Usually, strikers win games. Not yesterday. That honour
went to Foster.
No way through: Chelsea's Ramires is denied by
Roger Johnson - part of a robust Birmingham City defence