Chelsea claimed their first Premier League win under new manager Andre Villas-Boas after they came from behind to beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.

Shane Long opened the scoring within minutes of the kick-off after a mistake by Alex, before Nicolas Anelka levelled for the Blues early in the second half.

West Brom looked on course to return to the Midlands with a well-earned point, but Florent Malouda struck in the final 10 minutes to take Villas-Boas's unbeaten run of league games to 35, stretching back through his one season at Porto to his short tenure at Academica in April 2010.

Long scored his second goal in as many games following his £6.5 million move from Reading to West Brom after just four minutes.

Plenty of pre-match talk was about the vulnerability of Chelsea reserve keeper Hilario - who started his first match for 18 months with Petr Cech injured - but it was defender Alex who gifted Long with a golden opportunity to break the deadlock.

The Brazilian was caught napping as Ramires sent an innocuous pass his way and Long pounced on to the loose ball and surged for goal. Alex gave chase, only to stumble at the crucial moment, allowing the Ireland striker to beat Hilario with a clinical low strike inside the near post.

Chelsea soon picked up where they left off before the goal, controlling possession but struggling to get in behind a well-organised unit typical of Roy Hodgson, who was celebrating his 35th year as a professional coach.

The Baggies continued to look a threat on the counter-attack, and they should have been 2-0 up midway through the half when Chris Brunt sent a wonderfully-weighted pass down the right flank for Long to chase, but he overhit his square pass for Somen Tchoyi when a simple tap-in looked inevitable.

Villas-Boas showed a ruthless streak when he substituted the ineffectual Kalou for Malouda after just 35 minutes, with his team unable to trouble West Brom keeper Ben Foster.

It was only in the closing moments of the half that they did so, in fact, with Ashley Cole's shot being tipped around the upright by the summer signing from Birmingham City when it looked bound for the top corner.

Foster was then fortunate not to concede a penalty just before the break when Anelka just beat him to the ball before being brought down, but referee Lee Mason was unsighted and waved away the appeals.

Still, Anelka made his mark eight minutes into the second half when he surged in from the right and saw his low shot beat Foster via a significant deflection off Jonas Olsson. Anelka has now scored five goals in seven games against West Brom, and that equaliser moves him level with Dwight Yorke and Robbie Keane at number 10 in the Premier League's all-time scoring charts with 123 goals.

Paul Scharner spurned a great opportunity to give West Brom back the lead almost immediately when he headed wide from close range, before Steven Reid made a heroic diving block to deny Malouda.

Tchoyi, starting up front with Long for West Brom ahead of last season's Peter Odemwingie, dug out a curling left-footed shot which was saved acrobatically by Hilario.

The Portuguese may have the reputation for being prone to moments of poor judgement, but it was Foster who had hearts in mouths when he came charging out of his area to try and stop Anelka. The French striker side-footed the ball past the keeper in no-man's land, but it hit the side netting.

Foster had little time to catch his breath before he was picking the ball out of his net. Jose Bosingwa skipped between Nicky Shorey and James Morrison before pinging in a devilish low cross which Malouda dispatched at the far post to seal the comeback.

West Brom can certainly feel hard done by, as despite two highly admirable showings against top opposition this season - they were narrowly beaten 2-1 by champions Manchester United on the opening day - they are now pointless after two games.

Tony Mabert - on Twitter @tony_mabert / Eurosport