This game should originally have been played on February 27, a date remembered for one very particular reason.
Instead Carling Cup final duties took precedence that weekend and two months down the line Blues eventually met their Stamford Bridge fate - and how.
It was somewhat unfortunate that they should face a Chelsea side who have come into form and are now much more clinical than they have been for large swathes of the season.
Sebastian Larsson's 77th minute penalty gave Blues the tiniest crumb of comfort at the end of a sobering night.
Blues weren't bad, it was just that Chelsea performed some fair way to their potential.
And it was uncannily like Blues previous visit to this part of west London.
Chelsea got an early goal, added another soon after and coasted.
For all the possession Blues had in between the first and second strikes, they were not dangerous or careful enough with it and were too sloppy when Chelsea came towards them at the critical moments.
It was effectively game over by the 26th minute and the concern for Blues was not to let Chelsea run amok and dent their goal difference, which had been among the better ones of the teams in the lower reaches of the league.
Alex McLeish altered the line-up by giving Aleksandr Hleb a first start since the end of January and Keith Fahey came in on the left of a five-man midfield.
However Blues had hardly settled into their shape when Chelsea took the lead, a start that instantly unhinged any game plan.
Just two minutes 45 seconds had elapsed when John Terry drilled a long diagonal ball to Paulo Ferreira on the right.
Fahey had shunted across the other way before Chelsea switched play quickly and Stuart Parnaby was miles off Ferreira.
He could even afford to stumble on the ball before whipping it into the near post area, where Didier Drogba glanced on.
Florent Malouda was alive to the possibilities and slid in ahead of Stephen Carr to divert Drogba's flick high into the net.
When Blues beat Chelsea in November at St Andrew's they peppered Ben Foster's goal with 27 shots and couldn't score; here they did it all too easily in their first attack of note.
