Mowbray accepts the Blues are having problems breaking teams down at home as demonstrated in the recent draws with Newcastle and West Ham and the defeat at the hands of Arsenal.

But the former Hibernian boss points to the fact Phil Scolari's team are lying second in the Barclays Premier League and into the next phase of the Champions League as a testament to how formidable they still are.

Mowbray, whose side were beaten 3-0 at home by Chelsea earlier in the campaign, said: "I find it quite humorous that people think Chelsea are struggling.

"They have qualified for the next stage of the Champions League and, if John Terry hadn't been sent off, there is more than a fair chance they would have beaten Everton on Monday and gone top of the Premier League for Christmas.

"It is quite funny really what people think.

"Scolari might be getting criticism for playing one up front and yet, for the first eight weeks of the season, he was some sort of football genius with flowing football and Chelsea scoring lots of goals.

"All of a sudden people are phoning radio stations and saying he is tactically inept and he can't do it in England. That just highlights the industry for me.

"I think he will be fine. He has got some world class players. He has won the World Cup and people are criticising whether he can do a job in England.

"He seems to have a lovely personality, make his players feel special, he promotes attacking, exciting football.

"What more do you want other than to win of course - and if you are manager of Chelsea, you've got to win. If you are manager of Brazil, you've got to win. I am sure he understands it."

Mowbray added: "We will go there, we will try and frustrate them, be as organised as we can, but we understand the quality we are playing against.

"Yes, they can score goals at will. They might play Drogba and Anelka against us and go more direct and try and batter down the door. Let's wait and see what they do.

"They might be sick of teams stringing everyone in front of them and making it hard to play through them."

Mowbray also rejected the claim that Chelsea's home form should be a cause for concern.

He said: "I am not sure they look vulnerable. I watched the whole game against Newcastle and they didn't look vulnerable at all. They just didn't score.

"Teams are generally going there and shutting up shop or, as Jose Mourinho once said, parking the bus in front of the goal and they are finding it difficult.

"They will be thinking they are not getting the breaks at the moment because they could have won all their games at home and yet the stats suggest they have only got two more points at home than us this season.

"We will go there and try and make life difficult and try and frustrate them a little bit and see if they get a bit nervous and see if we can get some opportunities to ask questions of their defence.

"But I wouldn't sit here and say we are going out to be over cavalier and to play them off the pitch. Every game Chelsea play, they dominate the ball."

Mowbray insisted Albion had not lost their self belief before defeating Manchester City on Sunday - their first win in 11 games.

He said: "I don't think we lost belief. I sit here every week and talk about this boom and doom thing we all have to live in and you are only ever right if you win.

"If we lose, you are always vulnerable to criticism. I am very much aware of that but the bottom line is you've got to stay single minded and do what you believe is right and take the criticism on the chin when it comes.

"Psychologically it helps to get three points because the longer you go without winning it becomes more difficult to win because, even from winning positions, you can find yourselves conceding late goals trying to protect what you have got.

"To get a victory is important and maybe it can stimulate more victories along the way and get back to that run earlier in the season when we won three out of four games.

"I think the team has got the talent and ability within itself to win games in this league."