Chelsea wait on Essien

But he only did it after scoring a record-breaking winner for coach Jose Mourinho.

Grounded: Michael Essien clutches his knee

Michael Essien celebrates with the fans after scoring the winner against Birmingham before he had to leave the pitch with a knee injury

The influential midfielder is a serious doubt to face Reading on Wednesday as the full extent of his injury is assessed by the over-worked medical team.

Essien had not fully recovered from previous ankle ligament damage but still managed to score the vital 50th minute goal before limping off with a twisted knee in the 69th minute.

Mourinho has Paulo Ferreira and Claude Makelele on the recovery trail while John Terry (knee) is recovering ahead of schedule and could feature at Liverpool next Sunday. But given that it's only August, the injury list remains extensive.

Didier Drogba has also been pressed back into action from a knee problem and got through 26 minutes as a sub yesterday without any adverse reaction. Claudio Pizarro, who equalised Mikael Forssell's opener for Birmingham, and Florent Malouda, who gave Chelsea a lead before Olivier Kapo made it 2-2, should keep their places after impressive-debuts.

Pizarro said: "Hopefully-I can keep my place. I'm working hard but there's a lot of competition. Jose told me to play the way I've been playing."

Mourinho held up Shaun Wright Phillips as his model professional last night.

SWP shone in a side which moved beyond the great 1978-80 Liverpool team to record a historic home league run of 64 consecutive games unbeaten.

But while Wright-Phillips basks in Mourinho's post-match adulation, the absent galactico Andriy Shevchenko suffered.

The injured £30m Ukrainian striker must be left wondering what heights he will have to scale this term to get on the right side of the head coach.

Mourinho said: "Shaun has a lot of ambition and is a team player. He deserves good things. Some players after one bad season they don't resist and they want to leave.

"The dressing room loves Shaun because he is a team player."

Clearly Shevchenko will read something into those quotes and the striker was not sitting alongside some of Chelsea's injured - even the disenchanted Arjen Robben was present - yesterday.

Shevchenko's lower back problem was considered minor by the Chelsea medical department and it was felt he would only need a few days' rest.

But Mourinho revealed he will not be with them at Cobham today. "Sheva, not training with me," was all the Portuguese would say.