Essien the hero: Today in history: Chelsea break topflight unbeaten home record

On Sunday 12th August, 2007, Michael Essien grabbed the winner as Chelsea defeated Birmingham to set an English record for unbeaten league matches at home.

Jose Mourinho's men were given a scare when Mikael Forssell opened the scoring and Olivier Kapo levelled before the break, but Essien's second-half strike into the top corner enabled Chelsea to go 64 league games undefeated at Stamford Bridge.

It enabled them to go one match ahead of Liverpool's efforts at Anfield between 1978 and 1981, although Mourinho insisted before the game that anything less than a win would not be worth celebrating.

Mourinho's record was even more impressive. He had gone 99 home league games without a defeat, his last being a 3-2 reverse while at Porto at the hands of Beira Mar in 2002. In the end, there was plenty for the Chelsea boss to celebrate. Aside from the record, new signings Claudio Pizarro and Florent Malouda found the net in the first half, either side of Birmingham's goals.

The entertainment did not stop after the break, Wright-Phillips driving fiercely into the side-netting, fooling half of the Stamford Bridge crowd into thinking Chelsea had taken the lead again. But they were ahead in the 50th minute, with Wright-Phillips finding Essien on the edge of the area and the Ghana midfielder finding the top corner, although Doyle got a hand to the curling effort and again perhaps might have done better.

Essien was booked for his celebrations but it mattered little as Chelsea got within sight of making the record safe. Chelsea could have extended their lead too, with Kelly required to make a block from Pizarro and Essien firing over. The sight of Drogba warming up had excited home supporters, and he was given the last 27 minutes to make an impression after missing the Community Shield through injury.