Football Special Report: Birmingham vs. Chelsea- Review and Player Ratings (Part 3)
Here are the player ratings of both teams.
Birmingham City:
Benjamin Foster
Top of the Match
The man who played in goal for his country in midweek made a claim for a regular starting spot with a terrific game in which he made countless fabulous saves to the visitors at Bay and earned a much deserved clean sheet.
Stephen Carr
He was overrun by the floating Kalou and the combinations of Anelka and Drogba.
Roger Johnson
He struggled to cope with the strength and wit of Malouda and allowed too big a gap between himself and Dann on too many occasions, allowing Drogba and Ramires to slip their way through in the first half. But the defender made a terrific recovery tackle
to deny Kalou a clear run on goal in the second half.
Scott Dann
He made a stellar early interception to prevent Drogba from racing through unmarked and looked solid throughout.
Liam Ridgewell
He was too easily out jumped by Anelka and fortunate that his goalie was able to pull off a wonder save. He made a vital tackle on Kalou deep in injury time.
Sebastian Larsson
It was another superb delivery from Larsson helped to create the opener, but the Swedish player allowed Malouda and Cole to don the flank.
Barry Ferguson
At the base of the midfield, he kept things ticking over for his side in the first half and played the spoiling role well in the second.
Lee Bowyer
He scored the only goal of the match and did exceptionally well to keep opposition at bay. It was a decent performance from the Birmingham man.
Cameron Jerome
He set up the only goal of the best with a perfect header that dissected Arsenal centre back and right back to find his forward, Lee Bowyer, to score the only goal.
Nikola Zigic
It was on the deck where the Serbian made the biggest impact, but once again the striker didn't quite look comfortable.
Chelsea
Petr Cech
He was unfortunate for the first goal and was hardly disturbed for the whole. In the dying minutes of the match, he spent most of the time few yards in front of penalty box.
Paulo Ferreira
He shifted to right after looking uncomfortable in the middle, but Ferreira looked lacklustre going forward.
Alex
The Brazilian centre half was out muscled by Birminghan attacker for the first goal, otherwise Alex looked calm and composed throughout ninety minutes.
Branislav Ivanovic
Blasted a free header wide moments after the opener and awfully skewed over from close range in the dying minutes.
Ashley Cole
Forever sought the overlap and provided a consistent attacking outlet.
Ramires
He blew his two first-half chances wide that a more composed player would have slotted away. He was rightly substituted in the second half and Sturridge was brought in.
Flourent Malouda
Without a doubt, he is the best player of Chelsea in this season and he was outstanding against Birmingham City.
Nicolas Anelka
The former Arsenal player looked deadly outside the box and created many chances for Drogba and Kalou.
Salomon Kalou
He should have done better, after missing so many chances in front of the goal. The Ivorian was not in his best form, but constantly tried for the equaliser throughout ninety minutes.
Didier Drogba
He was brilliant against Birmingham City every second of the match. Unfortunately, he did not find net but by looking at his performance, he deserved more than one goal.
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