Chelsea 3
Pizarro 17, Malouda 31, Essien 50
Birmingham 2
Forssell 15, Kapo 36
Chelsea 3 Birmingham 2 August 12 2007
Michael Essien struck a superb winner as Chelsea beat Birmingham 3-2 to set an English record for unbeaten league matches at home.
The visitors took a shock lead in the 15th minute when Gary McSheffrey's curling free-kick was flicked on by Liam Ridgewell and Mikael Forssell's flicked header wrong-footed Petr Cech.
The lead lasted just two minutes however as Claudio Pizarro got on the end of Shaun Wright-Phillips' cut-back with a swept finish past Colin Doyle.
And the Blues went ahead on the half-hour mark when Malouda played a one-two with Salomon Kalou before slipping the ball home in impressive fashion.
Chelsea were stunned in the 36th minute when Kapo unleashed an unstoppable drive into the top corner with his left foot but the hosts clinched victory in the 50th minute through Essien's curling effort from the edge of the area.