Aston Villa came from behind to win 3-1 at Stamford Bridge, knocking Chelsea out of the top 4. Andre Villas-Boas’ side have now gone 4 games without winning, including very winnable fixtures against Fulham, Wigan and now Aston Villa.
The opening 23 minutes were slow for Chelsea, with their passing ponderous and their play uninspiring. They were, however, gifted a penalty when Richard Dunne lunged to take Didier Drogba down. The Ivorian took the penalty, squeezing it past Brad Guzan for his 150th goal for the club (and, if reports from BBC Radio 5 Live are to be believed, which they are not, his last). Villa, however, came back. Without Darren Bent they have looked unthreatening up front, but today they looked fresh, direct and threatening. Charles N’Zogbia and Stephen Ireland have disappointed since their arrival at Villa Park, but the two combined to level the scores, with N’Zogbia’s cutback being turned in by Ireland on the second attempt.
Villa looked the better side throughout the second half, and captain Stilian Petrov gave them a lead 7 minutes from time after John Terry and David Luiz gave too much space for Ciaran Clark to slid Petrov through. Another defensive mistake, this time by Frank Lampard, gave the ball to Stephen Ireland, who slid substitute Darren Bent in to seal the victory.