At 36, Phillips recognised he would play a reduced role at the higher level. In a season when manager Alex McLeish relied on consistency in team selection – Birmingham set a Premier League record of nine consecutive matches with the same starting eleven, and a club record twelve-match unbeaten run in the top flight</ref> – he started only twice, but came on as substitute in 17 games. He scored only four goals, but those goals contributed four points to the club's highest finish for more than 50 years. Against Wolverhampton Wanderers, he came off the bench to score twice in the last ten minutes and win the game, and on 27 March 2010, 1–0 down at home to Arsenal, a 92nd-minute clearance by Bacary Sagna deflected off Phillips' face via the goalkeeper into the net for his 250th career goal.