Alex and Ramires have failed to recover from hamstring injuries and will miss out for Chelsea.
The Brazilian duo were expected to be fit after sitting out Saturday's 3-1 win at West Brom but will now be unavailable until after this weekend's clash with West Ham.
Branislav Ivanovic is doubtful with a muscle strain, which was due to be assessed on Tuesday.
Birmingham winger Jean Beausejour is back in contention.
The Chile international missed the 1-1 draw at Blackburn and the 2-0 home success over Sunderland at the weekend with a hamstring strain.
City boss Alex McLeish, whose side defeated Chelsea 1-0 at St Andrew's in November, has no fresh injury concerns, but strikers Nikola Zigic and Obafemi Martins plus defender Martin Jiranek remain sidelined with groin problems.
Chelsea (from): Cech, Bosingwa, Ferreira, Terry, Luiz, Ivanovic, Zhirkov, Cole, Mikel, Essien, Lampard, Benayoun, Kalou, Malouda, Anelka, Torres, Drogba, Turnbull.
Birmingham (from): Foster, Carr, Johnson, Ridgewell, Parnaby, Larsson, Gardner, Ferguson, Bowyer, Jerome, Phillips, Doyle, Hleb, Fahey, Derbyshire, Mutch, Davies, Bentley, Beausejour.
