Birmingham extended their unbeaten run in the Premier League to 10 games in a goalless draw with 10-man Chelsea that could have gone either way at St Andrew’s.

Yet only Blues managed to find the net through Christian Benitez via Liam Ridgewell’s square back in the first-half, only for referee Peter Walton to chalk the goal off for a very suspicious offside flag from the linesman.

But home goalkeeper Joe Hart had twice saved his team’s bacon before that, first stopping striker Daniel Sturridge’s drive and then pushing over Frank Lampard’s stinger.

Florent Malouda later saw red for Chelsea with a minute to go for a second yellow card when, having already been booked for unsporting behaviour, the midfielder clattered full-back Stephen Carr.