It was a clear case of tasting your own medicine when a recovering Chelsea side were subjected to a physical test by a struggling Aston Villa side determined to give the champions a run for their money.
Villa were taking on Chelsea after a busy Christmas schedule which saw consecutive defeats at the hands of title aspirants Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City. Chelsea, on the other hand, were coming into the match after a 1-0 win over Bolton Wanderers had ended a run of six matches without a win.
Villa were very direct in their approach and their over physicality saw Steliyan Petrov, Nigel Reo-Coker, James Collins and Brad Friedel pick up early cautions, the latter two for contempt after blatant fouls. The rough approach saw Florent Malouda, John Terry and Ashley Cole at the receiving end of some really hard tackles. Emile Heskey was also guilty of two hard tackles, on Terry and Cole.
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It was this approach from Villa that led to the opener as Chelsea were awarded a penalty after Collins brought Malouda down. Frank Lampard slammed home the spotkick and the holders looked to be on their way.
But Chelsea were having a hard time keeping the Villa attack under control with Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young looking particularly lively. This led to Michael Essien committing a foul on Reo-Coker inside the Chelsea box and Young had leveled through a spotkick of his own.
Villa could have gone ahead just before the break when another rash challenge from Essien saw Young felled just outside the box and Collins’ header from the ensuing freekick was only marginally wide.
It must have been a familiar feeling for Carlo Ancelotti at the break with his team staring at yet another bad result. But whatever his team talk was, it did not pay dividends as Emile Heskey put the Villians ahead almost immediately after the restart. In a real show of strength, the former England striker out muscled young defender Jeffery Bruma to nod home Downing’s cross.
Despite the setback, Chelsea continued attacking and Ramires saw a shot go wide before Friedel made saves from Malouda and Lampard. But Chelsea’s relentless attacking saw Didier Drogba equalise and Terry take the lead. Chelsea looked headed for a win until Marcus Albrighton’s cross was nodded in by Ciaran Clark in the dying moments as Villa registered an unlikely result at Stamford Bridge.
