Birmingham's Premiership match against Chelsea here on Tuesday could see the visitors go top and the home side move up to fourth but both sides could be forgiven for being sidetracked by other concerns.

Speculation over England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson's possible move to Stamford Bridge has not been dampened by the Swede's refusal after England's draw with Turkey to rule out that he was planning to join Chelsea.

Birmingham meanwhile are concerned that their Midlands derby with Aston Villa at St Andrews on Sunday could see a repeat of the crowd trouble that marred last year's match, when fans spilled on to the pitch.

Yet third-placed Chelsea, who have a game in hand over tabletoppers Arsenal and second-placed Manchester United, know a win would earn top spot and help validate the summer's extraordinary flurry in the transfer market.

Chelsea doctor Neil Frazer has said their French defender William Gallas' leg injury should have cleared up enough for him to be fit for the Birmingham game.

Gallas hurt his leg against Besiktas in the Champions League at the start of the month and initially it was thought he might have fractured a bone and could be out for up to eight weeks.

Frazer said however that following a scan, Gallas did not have a break in the limb and he said on the Chelsea website: "He'll be in the picture for Birmingham."

Striker Adrian Mutu scored in Romania's 1-1 draw with Japan on Saturday and could be due to start the match in coach Claudio Ranieri's rotation system.

Meanwhile Birmingham defender Kenny Cunningham said the Chelsea game would give them the chance to get over their 3-0 defeat against Manchester United last time out.

"We were very flat in the Manchester United dressing room after the Manchester game because we felt that we'd gone into it in good spirits," Cunningham told the club website.

"Having made such a good start to the season we felt we were in a position to go up there and make things very difficult for them, but as it turned out we weren't able to do that.

"But we haven't beaten ourselves up too much about it because it's done and dusted and we're now looking forward to the Chelsea game."

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