Chelsea Vs. Birmingham: Chelsea Move Into Second With 3-1 Win Over Fellow Blues

Florent Malouda scored in the third minute to kick off Chelsea's 3-1 win over Birmingham City, before picking up a second goal in the second half. In between, Salomon Kalou, handed a rare start, found the net as well, while the visitors needed a penalty to besmirch Petr Cech's clean sheet. A comfortable win for Chelsea, then, to take them to second in the Premier League after Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal played an exciting 3-3 draw. Carlo Ancelotti insists his Blues' title race is over, but now they sit just six points back of Manchester United. Meanwhile, Birmingham are in 15th with 38 points, although the way this season is going they're certainly not safe yet.

Malouda's opener came via a fantastic ball from John Terry, whose long ball found Paulo Ferreira near goal. Didier Drogba got his head on Ferreira's cross, nodding down to Malouda who only had to tap the ball into the back of the net. In fact, Drogba was an absolute beast throughout the match, clearly determined to show Ancelotti just how valuable he remains to the team. It was he who provided the assist for Kalou's goal as well, although the Ivorian's stunning shot from 25 yards out was impressive in its own right.

Chelsea appeared to have declared themselves the presumptive winners of the match as early as the 56th minute, when they handed Ryan Bertrand his Premier League debut, putting him on in place of Ashley Cole. The 21 year old proved up to the challenge, setting up Malouda's second goal within minutes. Bertrand sent in a beautiful cross to the middle of the box, where three Birmingham defenders were giving Malouda an absurd amount of room, making it easy for the Frenchman to head the ball past Ben Foster and into the net.

The home side did start to show signs of weakness in the last fifteen minutes, however. David Luiz gave substitute Matt Derbyshire a slight shove just inside the area, and the ref showed no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Which is more than could be said for the Birmingham players, with Craig Gardner and Sebastian Larsson arguing over who would take the kick. In the end it was Larsson, making his 200th appearance for the club, that took the penalty, sending it high and hard over Cech.

Birmingham nearly made a game out of it in the last ten minutes, as Derbyshire took the ball down the field. With no Chelsea defenders even close by, the striker had plenty of space to score, but he took the shot too quickly and sent the ball wide. Then on the other end of the field, Birmingham made their own silly mistake, with Ben Foster scooping up a backpass from Larsson. Chelsea were given a rare indirect free kick just in front of the Birmingham goal, and although everyone expected Fernando Torres to take it (for goodness sake, just let the man score so we can all move on with our lives) it was Drogba that stepped up. And Drogba who put the ball not just over the crossbar but far into the stands. Someday, Fernando.