Blues stunned by Villa
Gabriel Agbonlahor scored for Villa
Sunday, 02, Sep 2007 07:28
Chelsea have suffered their first defeat of the season after a shock 2-0 loss to Aston Villa at Villa Park.
Second-half goals from debutant Zat Knight and Gabriel Agbonlahor gave the home side a stunning victory.
The result means Jose Mourinho has yet to beat Villa at home since becoming Blues manager in 2004.
Jose Mourinho gave a debut to Juliano Belletti at rightback while Alex started alongside skipper John Terry. Frank Lampard missed the game with a thigh strain.
Knight, who signed for £3.5 million from Fulham, started in defence alongside Olaf Mellberg and Martin Laursen.
Florent Malouda came close to giving Chelsea an early lead on four minutes after his shot deflected off Gareth Barry and flew inches wide.
Shaun Wright-Phillips made a bright start and forced Scott Carson to tip his shot around the post on 13 minutes.
Three minutes later, Didier Drogba made space for himself but whacked his shot over the bar from 20 yards out.
Villa were powerless to stop Chelsea attacking with Wright-Phillips missing a gilt-edged chance on 20 minutes after dragging his effort wide from 12 yards.
The home side were unable to deal with the Blues' set-pieces with Alex firing his header over following a corner on 34 minutes.
In stoppage time, Villa came close to scoring with Barry and Luke Moore both failing to take advantage of Ashley Cole's poor clearance.
Villa exploded into life in the second half with the impressive Ashley Young's curling shot tipped over by Petr Cech.
From Barry's corner on 48 minutes, Knight rose above everyone to fire his header past Cech and give the home side a shock lead.
The goal forced Mourinho to bring off Jon Obi Mikel and bring on Claudio Pizarro on 52 minutes.
With Villa continuing to defend solidly, Mourinho then put on Joe Cole and Salomon Kalou for the final half an hour.
Michael Essien came agonisingly close to equalising on 82 minutes with the Ghana midfielder dragging his shot wide from the edge of the box.
Villa sealed victory two minutes from time after Young cut in on the left and fired a shot which Agbonlahor diverted home to hand Chelsea their first defeat since losing to Liverpool in January.
To make matters worse for Mourinho, Drogba hobbled off in the dying minutes with a leg injury.
The result means Chelsea remain fourth and fail to go top of the Premiership while Villa climb to tenth spot.