Matchday 19 ~ Chelsea vs Aston Villa

[Brasil]

WHAT A HELL OF A MATCH!

[Freddy Adu]

Villa hold Chelsea in eight-goal Christmas cracker


Written by: AFP

	Aston Villa manager Martin O´Neill guides his team during their Premier League match challenge against Newcastle at Saint James´ Park in Newcastle, north-east England, August 2007. Chelsea have been warned by O´Neill that his side are out to do the double over them on Boxing Day and dent their English Premier League title hopes.

LONDON (AFP) - Aston Villa held hosts Chelsea to a 4-4 draw with a last-minute equaliser in a festive football feast bursting with controversy at Stamford Bridge.

Wednesday's Boxing Day holiday clash had it all, swinging this way and that with Villa going 2-0 up, three sendings off, two penalties, bust-ups, Chelsea scoring what would have been a last-ditch winner before and an injury-time Villa equaliser.

The draw puts a dint in Chelsea's hopes of catching Arsenal and Manchester United at the top of the English Premier League.

Chelsea had gone 71 home league games unbeaten and had to battle furiously to keep the run going against the spirited Villains.

Scotland striker Shaun Maloney stabbed in a 14th-minute goal and scored Villa's second 30 minutes later thanks to a spectacular blunder from Blues goalkeeper Petr Cech, deemed fit enough to start.

But the match swung in Chelsea's favour when Villa defender Zat Knight was sent off for fouling substitute Michael Ballack in the penalty box in first-half stoppage time.

Ukraine striker Andriy Shevchenko scored the resulting penalty and blasted in a 50th-minute equaliser.

The Blues' Brazilian centre-half Alex then cooly scored in the 66th minute but Denmark centre-half Martin Laursen volleyed in from a corner six minutes later.

Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho was sent off for a two-footed tackle on Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Ballack scored a free kick in the 88th minute before Blues left-back Ashley Cole was sent off for a handball on the line and Villa captain Gareth Barry scored the injury-time equaliser from the resulting penalty.

Villa had enjoyed the better of the early chances and opened the scoring when John Carew's header from an Agbonlahor cross allowed the unmarked Maloney to slide in and score at the far post.

Matters worsened for the hosts in the 26th minute when England midfielder Frank Lampard was forced off with a thigh injury. Germany captain Ballack replaced him, making only his second appearance of the season.

Villa then doubled their lead, Maloney going past Paulo Ferreira and Alex before blasting his shot at Cech.

The goalkeeper went down on one knee in an attempt to catch the ball, but fluffed his effort, sending the ball spinning into the goal.

The goal was the Malaysia-born Maloney's fifth in 19 league games for his club since joining from Celtic, O'Neill's old team, in January.

The match then swung in Chelsea's favour.

Knight clipped Ballack's feet in the penalty area, sparking minutes of mayhem in the penalty box as players argued around referee Phil Dowd.

He duly sent off the limping Knight and Shevchenko converted the resulting penalty.

The sending off forced O'Neill to reshuffle his pack at half time. Maloney was sacrificed with defender Curtis Davies coming on.

Chelsea were still on a high and equalised within five minutes of the break.

Kalou passed to Shevchenko, who blasted a splendid shot past Carson from 25 yards for his fourth league goal of the season.

And the hosts scored again when Shevchenko held off Barry and played in Alex, who continued his run into the penalty box, skipping past Davies before firing past Carson.

The lead lasted just six minutes.

Young's inswinging corner found Laursen in the box, who sent a right-footed volley past Cech to equalise, setting up a frenzied last 10 minutes.

Portugal centre-half Carvalho was fairly dismissed for a shocking two-footed lunge on Agbonlahor with 10 minutes remaining.

Laursen fouled midfielder Joe Cole and Ballack blasted in the resulting free kick from just outside the penalty box for what seemed likely to be a stunning late winner.

But in injury time, Ashley Cole handled the ball on the line, sparking scuffles on the pitch before the England defender was sent off.

Barry sent Cech the wrong way with his spot kick in the 92nd minute for a shock equaliser -- a fitting end to a hugely entertaining match.

[Oscar Cardozo]

Chelsea get the match underway ...

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Agbonlahor tries his luck from just outside the box early on as he runs rings round Ashley Cole ... but his shot is wide of the right post

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Villa are off to a great start as Young this time has a shot on goal from the left but he badly scuffs his attempt wide and in the end Cech had his post well covered

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Villa earn themselves a dangerous free kick after Young is brought down by Ferreira ... the ball is whipped in towards the far post where Laursen is waiting but Cech gets just enough of a touch on the ball to take it away from him

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Cech is not looking confidant today and neither are the Chelsea back four as a Young whips a corner in which Cech eventually collects

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Knight feeds Laursen, who has acres of space in the box, but much to Chelsea's relief Essien gets back just in time to take the ball off Laursen and clear it away

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It looks only a matter of time until Villa score as Young, popping up on the right this time, whips a cross in for Carew but the header goes well astray and Chelsea are let off the hook

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Chelsea first chance of the game so far is a golden one as Ferreira does well down the right to cross for a waiting Kalou but Carson just gets a touch to the ball as it passes in front of him and he does enough to take it away from Kalou

[Oscar Cardozo]

That goal does seem to have woken Chelsea up a little as they enjoy a little more time in midfield than pinned back in their own half ... still nothing to really worry the Villa defence though

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Kalou jigs his way around a couple of Villa defenders on the left of the area before cutting back in and finding Lampard but the England man can do nothing with it as he runs into the box

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The honour of the first booking of the day goes to Michael Essien after he comes in from behind on Agbonlahor

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Laursen takes the resulting free kick and finds Agbonlahor but his shot from 6 yards flies over the bar

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Reo-Coker brings down Kalou just outside the box in a very dangerous, central position ... but Shevchenko blasts his free kick straight into the wall

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Lampard is off the field at the moment receiving treatment for what looks like some sort of thigh injury but it looks as though he won't be replaced just yet

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Now its Shevchenko's turn to need treatment as he takes a knock to the back of the head

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The injury to Sheva does allow Chelsea the opportunity to make a substitution as they bring on Michael Ballack for Frank Lampard

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Ballack is welcomed to the game with a late tackle from Reo-Coker - just in case he was in any doubt this is not going to be an easy ride!

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Pizarro fires the ball right across the front of goal to where Kalou is following in on on the left but again Carson is equal to the task and collects the ball on the way through

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Ballack and Barry clash with the former flailing his arms into the latter's head after Barry came in late for the tackle - Barry is judged to have given the free kick away though

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Chelsea are needling their way right back into this match as Carson is again called into action to collect a potentially dangerous cross from Joe Cole

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Agbonlahor with a great chance to double Villa's lead as we head towards the final 10 minutes of the half ... but Cech gets his body in the way of the volleyed shot and collects at the second attempt

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Young, on the counter after a Chelsea attack breaks down just outside the box, tries to feed Carew down the left wing but the pass is just too close to Ashley Cole who gets the comfortable pass back to Cech for the clearance

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Ballack chips a beautiful, inch perfect pass upfield for Joe Cole to run onto but the England man's scorcher of a shot is straight at Carson and, other than being rocked by the pace, the Villa keeper has little difficuly in making the safe

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Chelsea have a late corner from the left ... Cole takes and thumps the ball into the middle of the box ... Alex gets up to it but Mellberg does enough to put the Brazilian off

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GOAL VILLA! 2-0! Maloney does brilliantly well to bring a high, loose ball under control with his first touch and take it past Ferreira with his second before racing to the edge of the area and unleashing a shot ... but the main weight of responsibility of the goal has got to be on Petr Cech's shoulders as the ball was right at him and yet he lets it dribble into the net after bouncing of his hands

[Oscar Cardozo]

PENALTY! Ballack is put through on goal at the penalty spot by Essien and easily goes to ground after a touch from Knight leaving both of them rolling around on the ground! But Ballack is awarded the penalty and Knight is sent off gifting Chelsea a golden chance to get back in the match

[Oscar Cardozo]

GOAL CHELSEA! 2-1! Shevchenko smacks a very confident penalty into the bottom left hand corner of the net as Carson dives to the right!