Birmingham City v Chelsea: live 85 min Meireles gives way a free kick in the middle of the pitch by clearing out Redmond from behind. The Birmingham player isn't best pleased. And nor might he be. After a couple of false starts a ball to the back stick almost has Davies making contact with Cech all at sea but he's inches away from making something of it. 83 min Redmond hangs one up towards Davis in a crowded box as Birmingham start throwing their remaining dice. Chelsea stand firm but they have retreated in to their own final third which may give Birmingham the slightest hope of a sniff of a chance... 81 min If Birmingham were to rescue this game (which they definitely aren't now) they needed to have finished their best chance of the game. Delightful angled pass split the Chelsea back line and had Burke scampering on to it. Cech was slow coming out and it looked to be on but at the last moment the dog of a pitch came to bite Birmingham on the backside, a bobble and Burke's shot went from low and hard to high and wide. Bah! 77 min Even when Torres does something perfectly others conspire to undo his good work. In space down the right Torres picked out an unmarked Sturridge five yards out in front of an almost empty goal - but the England striker lost it under his feet and fluffed a gimme of a chance. Perhaps it's infectious... 76 min Another Chelsea change. Ramieres's night is done and on come the fresh legs of Lampard. 75 min Burke and Elliot exchange neat passes to work up to the Chelsea box and their reward is a corner. It looks to have been wasted until it arrived at the feet of Redmond, 30 yards out. It was ambitious but really not that far away at all. 73 min Bertrand, who has looked solid and dependable, though in the face of very little pressure, getting forward now to join the fun, but to no good effect this time. 71 min After a brief surge after the penalty save from the home side we are back to the same old same old with Chelsea running things. Hughton needs a change. And he makes one. Off goes N'Daw, who gave away the penalty, to be replaced by a striker - popular good natured everyman Marlon King. 68 min PENALTY Torres tripped as he was looking like something might be on for him. The Chelsea fans chant for Torres to take it. But Di Mateo obviously isn't feeling that carefree and secure in the result. Mata steps up ... and IT'S SAVED ... Doyle low to his left to turn it away in style. Maybe Torres will get the next one. 67 min It's all gone a little flat now. Birmingham having accepted their fate and Chelsea, like school bullies sensing weakness in an opponent, with their tails up and looking for more. 64 min Mata believes the game is sufficiently in the bag now he feels free to have a pop on the fly from a long, long way out. It is a long, long way over the bar. 62 min All going well for Chelsea now then. Apart from, you've guessed it, that man Torres. In the middle of Chelsea taking control and feeling good about themselves he is booked for a sloppy and needless foul on Spector. Wasn't much in it and he can feel harshly done by. And almost certaintly does. Damn you football, damn you to hell! 60 min Birmingham City 0 Chelsea 2 A cracking goal from Meireles ends this game and hands Chelsea a confidence boosting win I'm sure. Lovely football from the visitors, one and two touch stuff to work it in to the box before it was laid back to Meireles who struck it as sweet as you like from outside the box. Best thing we've seen all night. 59 min Sturridge on for Kalou, who has done little to feel aggrieved his evening has ended prematurely. Birmingham respond in kind, Rooney off for Burke. 58 min It's only one goal. And Chelsea haven't looked anything like a top of the table Premier League club. But ... it still feels like a long way back now for Birmingham. And the crowd know it, the volume having dropped in the home stands. 56 min The break is on for Chelsea through Torres. He had Mata to pick out; he had Ramieres to pick out; he finds the nearest Birmingham player. Hangs head. Looks like he might cry. 55 min The Chelsea players and fans celebrate that like it was a winner. Mistake from Birmingham allowed Ramieres to surge down the left and cross. Kalou and Mata got in a mess but as the ball broke the Spaniard found the net via the diving hand of Doyle in the Birmingham goal. They probably deserve to be ahead on points. 53 min Birmingham City 0 Chelsea 1 Sturridge the first man to show from the bench ... it inspires the men on the pitch. Mata puts Chelsea ahead with a scrappy but desperately needed goal. 52 min Chelsea forced backwards for the moment but the second half has belonged to them in the main so far, green shoots of realisation from them that they need to up the tempo and start bossing this game. 50 min Kalou skips around Spector down the left before feeding the onrushing Mata. What follows is a touch of class from a Spaniard. Unfortunately for Chelsea it is in the form of a stunning and perfectly timed tackle in the box from Ibanez. 48 min N'Daw making a nuisance of himself as a corner is cleared but returned with interest in to the Chelsea box. Zigic was lurking with intent too but Chelsea relieved to see the flag go up for offside. 47 min Cech unhappy to receive a long backpass on a cabbage path of a pitch. Shows his displeasure by hoofing the clearance in to the stands to bring pressure on his own goal. 46 min No changes at the break. Lampard may have taken his tracksuit bottoms off. But nothing more than that. HT WRAP A 'proper' cup tie. Meaning a terrible pitch, plenty of effort, enough to keep you watching, but pretty low on quality. Especially from Chelsea's £50m man. Really, what has happened to him? He used to be brilliant. He needs a hug rather than to be thrown to this uncaring Birmingham crowd. Birmingham forced the early tempo and could have gone ahead. Slowly Chelsea have started taking a little control but they haven't looked like scoring in truth. Still anyone's game. 45+2 min Honours even at the break and we are no closer to knowing who will face Leicester in the next round. 44 min He's your chance Fernando, MUST BE, MUST BE ... oh my lord. Has he done something unspeakable to the football Gods? A fine turn on the edge of the box saw him lose his man. Two years ago that was going nowhere but the back of the net. Today's Torres shapes right, swings his leg and ... drags it horribly, horribly wide. I don't care what everyone says - I feel sorry for him. This is like watching bear baiting now. 42 min Decent effort from Mata, firing through a cowded penalty area but Doyle was behind it to save. A sense of Chelsea turning the screw now. Birmingham the ones looking forward to their half time oranges the most. 41 min When your luck's not in it's not in. Even when Torres does everything right it doesn't go his way. Mata swung a huge cross to the back stick where Kalou hooked it back. Torres had got away from his man and had the cross been an inch or two higher he would have had a sitter. but it wasn't, and Ibanez cleared. 40 min Cech at full stretch to turn over a headed chance after Zigic stuck his bruised and battered head in the mixer and oh so nearly got his reward. 38 min Torres on to a cute ball from Mata, cuts inside, and runs in to a blue wall. The Spaniard showed determination to chase back and win the ball, take it forward, then ... oh dear ... an apology of a pass ends the attack. He's having a stinker. And the locals are loving it, booing him before he makes a mistake then cheering him when he inevitably does. 36 min Luiz wanders in to the Birmingham half with the ball without being challenged then plays a poor pass to give it away. Possession is tiurned over again. And again, then Mata gets a chance to cross that is cleared at the second attempt with a touch of panic about it. Bertrand swings one in from deep that the goalkeeper plucks out fo the air. It's pretty much that sort of game at the moment... 34 min Chelsea starting to exude a touch more authority, stringing a few passes together, But they don't have much in and around the box. Birmingham, meanwhile, are more direct and front foot and look marginally the more likely to score. 32 min Cahill meets a looping corner at the back of the area. But rather meekly, and it dribbles apologetically wide. 30 min Meanwhile, in other news, Arsenal's impossible dream has taken two steps closer to becoming reality. The Gooners are 2-0 up against Milan and only needing the same again to be level. Crickey. If you'd rather follow that you can do here, I won't be offended, but do come back from time to time, eh? 28 min Zigic enters two footed in to the continuing debate about reckless challenges. Actually, looking at the replay, Cahill's jump and the fact it was just a single - stud showing - foot in has probably saved him from a red. Yellow card from an indignant and unrepentant Zigic who has a right old monk on. 26 min Another park player fudge from Torres, his control in front of goal best described as disappointing. The Birmingham fans take particular and vocal delight in his ongoing suffering, the sadists. 24 min Elliot tests Cech from the edge of the box. And it was a test. Decent save low to his left from the goalkeeper captain (for the night). 23 min Torres down the right, time to look up and see what's in the box. He does, then scuffs what I can only imagine was meant to be a cross, to the feet of the nearest Blue shirt (Chelsea are in white tonight). He's like a man with a rain cloud following him on a sunny day. 21 min "That's really good defending from Luiz," says Jim Beglin. Maybe something profound has changed. Redmond, who has rockets in his boots, was off and chasing a long ball down the left, leaving his markers standing. Luiz read it though, and came across to cover and snuff out danger. Good defending indeed. 20 min 20 minutes in to a post AVB world and little has changed from where I'm looking. They're still struggling painfully to get on top of supposedly inferior opponents. But at least they haven't let a goal in yet, which is progress of a sort. 19 min Zigic still getting cleaned up, but his mood remains filthy. I'm looking forward to the first time Luiz has the ball in front of him. He looks like a man on an unholy mission. 18 min Ramieres surges in to the Birmingham box but is under enough pressure when he lets fly as to spoon a presentable chance over the crossbar in the style of Owen Farrell. 17 min Chelsea's fans are putting in a defiant shift, even if their team aren't yet. In that sweary, aggressive, confrontational way so cherished by English football. But credit where it's due, they are making themselves heard. 15 min Zigic's head feels a slightly fuller force from Luiz's boot. A real swinger that one. Zigic fell on his backside as Luiz tried to hoof the ball clear. Careless rather than with malice. But the Birmingham man is now literally giving blood for the cause. 13 min Zigic takes a tumble. Which is both a long-winded and potentially very painful experience for a man of his stature. Made more so by Luiz - accidentally - flicking his head with a heel as he ran past. 11 min Redmond twists and turns in the Chelsea box but just as he looked to have created the shooting chance it got away from him. Warning signs for the visitors, who are on the back foot a touch now. 09 min No real pattern to the game so far and honours even. If Chelsea were fired up to go out and put a performance in then Birmingham have quickly disabused them of the idea that will be easy. 07 min Birmingham not interested in sitting back. And why not, Chelsea's defensive plans have looked about as well conceived as Pete Doherty's attempts to branch out in to hip-hip. Redmond, who is celebrating his 18th birthday today, bless, finds space to cross but over cooks it. 05 min Some neat pass and move from Birmingham serves notice that they are no mugs for the taking. First test for Bertrand at left back as a ball is lobbed down the right hand Birmingham channel. One he passes comfortably. 03 min Corner for Birmingham comes to nought but Luiz goes on one of those runs out of defence that takes him off the pitch to keep the pressure on. A casual sorry to his team-mates, you imagine, would displease Roy Keane as much as ear flicking (see below). 02 min Fantastic through ball from Torres releases Mata, bearing down on goal with all the space in the world. With Kalou in support he waited, and waited, and waited and ... bah ... chance wasted as he allows two defenders to get across and Doyle to amke a comfortable save at his near post. 01 min Jose Mourinho's name being sung by the away fans already. Abramovich isn't the only one who wanted to use this game to make a point. 19.42 Di Mateo has been talking: "I think we have a collective responsibility for what happened in the last two days. We have to pick ourselves up and win games and put better performances in. Our job is to try and get the best out of these players until the end of the season. I want to see from them commitment and passion the club and fans deserve. Why no Lampard? I wanted to freshen up the team. He played Saturday, we needed new energy in the team. He is an important player for us. Terry was very determined to be back and we are pleased he is back in the squad. 19.35 "You'll like this Roy," says Gareth Southgate. Roy, it is safe to say, does not. The 'this' being Chelsea players larking around, laughing, and flicking each other's ears on the St Andrew's pitch. "Stupid carry on," snarls the former Manchester United captain. They shouldn't be smiling, they should be focused on winning a game. They let their manager down. Badly. All this carry on is ridiculous. It just shows what it's like in their camp. Down with this sort of thing, he didn't say, but that's what he meant. 19.30 Andrew sends in his two peneth worth: In true no2-now-caretaker style, Chelsea will win tonight and this will prove that those players were not playing for AVB. 19.20 Bruce Christie emails in with a mixture of rage, incredulity and blind optimism... What are Chelsea playing 1-8-2. I can't imagine even as an example leaving Ashley Cole out of this game and playing Mikel, Meireles and Kalou.Even if they win tonight, which should have been a given, such ream selection is stupid and done to make some rare Russian point. Guess the score did I hear you ask, should be 4 - something to Chelsea. 19.00 Read in to this what you will ... no Lampard or Drogba in Chelsea's starting line up. They won't like that one bit. Look out for whispered plotting on the bench as they move to unseat Di Mateo. How very dare he! Torres, as instructed from the very top, starts, alongside Kalou. Teams: Birmingham City: Doyle, Spector, Ibanez, Davies, N'Daw, Redmond, Mutch, Gomis, Elliott, Rooney, Zigic. Subs: Myhill, Burke, King, Valles, Reilly, Jervis, Packwood. Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Cahill, Bertrand, Ramires, Mikel, Meireles, Kalou, Torres, Mata. Subs: Hilario, Essien, Lampard, Drogba, Lukaku, Sturridge, Terry. Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire) 18.45 Oh to have been a fly on the wall when Roman Abramovich addressed his playing staff at Chelsea this week. Having given Andre Villas-Boas the big heave-ho, the Russian oligarch wiped the creeping smirks off one or two Chelsea players' faces by gathering them together to explain, in no uncertain terms, that though AVB had been sacrificed on the increasingly bloody alter of Abramovich's folly and impatience, he held them responsible, too. Whatever the Russian for 'pull your bloody fingers out you bunch of whiny, over-paid sack of ***'s or you're going to the Gulags yourself, right?' is, it was on Abramovich's mind. Then in the players' ear like that worm thing off of Start Trek, to eat away at their brains as they pretended to listen to Roberto Di Mateo's training plans. Make no mistake, after AVB was removed from the firing line, finally put out of his misery, the starring eyes of blame and shame are now trained on what many consider the genuinely guilty parties. And so a run of the mill FA Cup replay takes on the guise of a rather intriguing reality show, where a bunch of feckless attention seekers perform for the favour of people with short attention spans and risk being hauled off the whole thing sooner rather than later. Much like any reality show, then. But starring Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba and, at the big man's behest, Fernando Torres, a man who has the kind of calamitous bad luck you would imagine would plague the bastard offspring of Frank Spencer and Mrs Bean - the harder he tries the more thing go wrong, with 'hilarious consequences'. The prize on offer today, if we want to get all glass half full for a moment, is the by to an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley that is Leicester City at home. Would that be enough to rescue Chelsea's season and give Di Mateo a shot at the job full time? But Birmingham City must be rubbing their hands together in anticipation - a trip to Wembley in the Cup and promotion would do very nicely indeed for a year's work. And probably give Chris Hughton the Championship manager of the season gong in the process. That's the same Chris Hughton who was sacked by a despot club owner who appears to know next to nothing about football despite the manager having done pretty well for him a while back. There's a lesson there somewhere. But I'm jiggered if I can pick it out just now ... Paul Hayward observes that while Abramovich wields all the power at Chelsea, his short-termism has contributed to the lack of Champions League glory (and includes the chilling phrase "consummate, steely backroom Kremlin operator," bruughhhhhhh). How does Abramovich compare to his European club football overlord peers in terms of having an itchy trigger finger? Here's how, in handy graphic form. 'Arry doesn't want the job, but Rafa Benítez quite fancies it, and thinks he has enough love in the bank from Liverpool fans to get away with it, and Glenn Hoddle would 'love it' (in an old school Kevin Keegan-style) if he was asked back to the Bridge (though isn't holding his breath). Have your say on who Chelsea should get rid of in their summer fire sale by voting in our poll (Warning: if you are the mother of either Florent Malouda, Jose Bosingwa or Paulo Ferreira, probably best to give this one a miss).