All the fixture details you need can be found below…

WHEN AND WHERE

The match takes place today at the SportNation.bet Stadium, the home of Birmingham City Women, and kick-off is at 2.45pm.

THE FORM

Chelsea Women come into this game unbeaten all season and our fine form should stand us in good stead against 10th place Birmingham City.

Our mid-week Continental League Cup game against Tottenham Hotspur resulted in a 5-1 victory for the Blues. Chelsea failed to find a breakthrough in the opening 45 minutes, but having come out after the break with more intent going forward, we went on to produce an impressive attacking display which proved too much for the WSL debutants to handle.

Drew Spence, Erin Cuthbert, Bethany England with two and defender Deanna Cooper were the scorers.

Last Sunday we beat Manchester United 1-0 in front of a sold out Kingsmeadow. It was a hard-fought contest with Maren Mjelde’s second-half spot-kick being the difference. The penalty was awarded after Fran Kirby was taken down by a United defender and her Norwegian team-mate made no mistake in converting coolly.

Birmingham have had a tricky start to the WSL having lost four games out of a possible five. Unlike the Blues, they did not have a midweek Continental League Cup fixture meaning they were last in action a week ago. They met their fellow league strugglers Brighton and Hove Albion and were defeated 3-0.

Birmingham registered their only league win against Liverpool at the end of October which came through goals from Kerys Harrop and Lucy Staniforth. The opener arrived when Staniforth's bending free-kick from a central-right position was thumped past former Chelsea keeper Fran Kitching by Harrop. Staniforth then bagged a goal for herself when her strike inside the box flew into the back of the net. As for their Cup campaign, Birmingham sit in third place in Group C with Manchester United and Manchester City above them after winning two out of three.

CHELSEA V BIRMINGHAM CITY HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD

The last time the two teams met was in January 2019 and Birmingham ended the Blues’ 11-match winning run when they edged 3-2 win at Kingsmeadow. We went ahead early on through a wonderful diving header from Cuthbert. However, the visitors turned the game around with two goals out of nowhere either side of half-time and it took a free-kick from our No.22 to draw us level deep into the contest. Ellen White, now at Manchester City, popped up to volley a last-gasp winner for Birmingham to settle a remarkable contest.

Since losing to today’s opponents in January, Chelsea have remained unbeaten in our following 12 Women’s Super League games (W9 D3), scoring 36 goals and conceding just eight.

Our away fixture in last season’s league campaign against Birmingham was a frustrating afternoon for Hayes' side, as a dominant performance was not rewarded with three points – thanks largely to Ann-Katrin Berger, who has since gone on to join us. The highlight of the German's afternoon was a magnificent save to deny Blues legend Karen Carney from the penalty spot as the match finished goalless.

In 2017, we hosted Birmingham and led through a Kirby stunner early on and Hayley Ladd, now at Manchester United, equalised which looked to have earned the visitors a point. But Cuthbert had other ideas, though, and slotted home a last-gasp winner which pushed us a step closer to the league title.

That was our first home meeting with them since July 2016, with the subsequent four fixtures taking place at Solihull Moors. Three of those ended positively for Chelsea, including a Spring Series-clinching victory, although we lost an FA Cup semi-final in a penalty shoot-out. No prizes for guessing who Birmingham's keeper was that day.The July 2016 match, which took place at our old Wheatsheaf Park home, finished all square after Eniola Aluko cancelled out Freda Ayisi's opener. Katie Chapman was sent off late on and it was the second home game against our fellow Blues in which we finished with 10 players, as Gemma Davison was sent off the year before. It made little difference on that occasion, as we ran out 4-0 winners following a brace from Aluko and one apiece for Gilly Flaherty and Kirby. It was a debut goal for Chelsea's No.14, who recently achieved 100 appearances for Chelsea.

We also recorded a victory over Birmingham in 2014 and there were goals for Aluko and Flaherty, while Ji also got her name on the scoresheet.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE MATCH

Supporters who are unable travel can keep up to date with how the match unfolds via our social media channels. There will be live text commentary on our Twitter page, regular updates on Facebook and for behind-the-scenes footage, make sure you check out our matchday Instagram Story. Simply search 'ChelseaFCW' on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

The match has also been selected to be shown live on BT Sport 1 and coverage begins at 2.30pm.

VIEW FROM THE DUGOUT

Manager Emma Hayes expects a tough encounter this afternoon, and she explained why.

‘Birmingham have proved over the years to be an extremely resilient team, they are a club that have produced a lot of talent.

‘We know going to that stadium is a tricky place to play, we have to be conscious of that and take care of things that matter for that type of game. We don’t underestimate anyone and I think it will be a much tougher test than people think.’

NEXT UP AT KINGSMEADOW

You have the opportunity to watch Chelsea take on fellow title contenders Manchester City on Sunday 8 December at Kingsmeadow. With a sell-out crowd expected, book your tickets now. They are priced at £1 for juniors (aged under 20) and seniors (aged over 65) and £9 for adults.

Click here to buy your tickets