02/09/2007  Aston Villa 2 Chelsea 0
 
Aston Villa fan Zat Knight scored on his debut for Martin O'Neill's side to help shatter Chelsea's seven-month unbeaten record in the Barclays Premier League.

Knight, a £3.5million capture from Fulham, had deflected the ball into his own net on the same ground a week earlier in his final league match for Fulham.

But he was delirious with joy after heading the opening goal after 47 minutes and then with two minutes left Gabriel Agbonlahor made sure of victory with a second goal.

It was the signal for Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to leave the directors' box before the end of the game.

Defeat cost Chelsea the chance to regain top spot in the Premier League from Liverpool, the last side to defeat them in the competition at Anfield in January.

But then Villa Park has been a bogey ground for the Blues who have not triumphed there in eight seasons.

Chelsea enjoyed far more possession but they struggled to create clear-cut openings against a Villa team who defended as if their lives depended on the outcome.

Martin Laursen, after an uncertain opening, had an excellent game at the heart of the home defence despite being given a searching examination by Didier Drogba.

There was a desperation about Chelsea's play in the second half and the final whistle signalled mass scenes of joy from the majority of the 37,000 crowd.

Worryingly for Chelsea, Drogba had to be helped off the pitch at the final whistle after suffering what looked like a leg injury.

Chelsea began positively and had strong claims for a penalty when central defender Laursen appeared to wrestle Shaun Wright-Phillips to the ground but referee Mark Clattenburg waved play on.

Although Drogba was operating as the only out-and-out striker for Chelsea, they attacked with purpose and pace in the early stages.

But it was Chelsea keeper Petr Cech who was called upon to make the first meaningful save.

Ashley Young's dangerous ball into the near post picked out Agbonlahor and he spun sharply and had his powerful left-footed drive parried away by Cech.

Chelsea were soon back on the offensive and skipper John Terry was only just too high with a header from Florent Malouda's inswinging corner.

Then Villa keeper Scott Carson was twice called into action to save low drives from Michael Essien and Wright-Phillips respectively.

But Agbonlahor would have been disappointed to send a low attempt straight at Cech with no real power after the ball had rebounded off Alex.

Then the England Under-21 striker out-jumped Ashley Cole to make contact with a Gareth Barry cross but could not direct his header on target.

Wright-Phillips would have been disappointed to drive a shot into the side-netting after cutting back inside Agbonlahor.

Villa began the second half on the offensive and Cech tipped over a curling effort from Young after John Carew had laid the ball back into his path.

Then after 47 minutes Villa fan Knight celebrated his debut by putting O'Neill's side in front.

Barry supplied the inswinging corner and Knight, who last weekend scored an own goal on the same ground in his last league match for Fulham, rose above Drogba to head past Cech.

Ashley Cole tried to keep out the downward header but could only help it over the line.

Jose Mourinho's instant response was to take off Mikel and bring on Claudio Pizarro as he reverted from a 4-5-1 to a 4-4-2 formation.

Nigel Reo-Coker became the first player to be yellow-carded for a challenge on Malouda in an off-the-ball incident.

Predictably Chelsea launched an offensive and Drogba showed great skill to spin past Laursen and race into the Villa box but Mellberg did well to cut out his low centre.

Mourinho then brought on Joe Cole and Salomon Kalou for Wright-Phillips and Claude Makelele respectively.

It was now one-way traffic towards the Villa goal and Terry was only just too high with a powerful header from a Joe Cole corner.

But the Blues were still struggling to create clear-cut openings for all their lengthy spells of possession.

Then with two minutes left Agbonlahor turned home Young's cross from the left flank to settle the issue.