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.
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