Stoppage-time goal cripples Chelsea

LONDON (AP):

Chelsea's poor Premier League form continued yesterday when they conceded an injury-time equaliser to draw 3-3 with struggling Aston Villa.

The Blues had trailed 2-1 at Stamford Bridge until Didier Drogba and John Terry scored in the last six minutes of regular time to put the defending champions ahead.

Those goals looked to have clinched only Chelsea's second win in their last eight matches, but Villa defender Ciaran Clark was left unmarked to head Marc Albrighton's cross past goalkeeper Petr Cech.

The point left Chelsea outside the top four, with Tottenham having moved into the final Champions League place with a 1-0 win over Fulham on Saturday.

Villa moved up to 15th place with the first point they earned this season after conceding the first goal.

Newcastle moved up two places to 10th after Shola Ameobi scored for a 1-0 win at Wigan in yesterday's other game.

Dropped 25 points

Chelsea have now dropped 25 points already this season, just three fewer than they dropped in the whole of 2009-10.

"We've been in such a bad run of form, we needed something," Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel said. "And it's great to get it at Stamford Bridge.

"We've got over what I thought was a poor penalty decision against us at the start and we've fought back, and hopefully this will kick-start our season and we can get back up the table."

The Blues ended a six-match run without a win by beating Bolton 1-0 in midweek and led yesterday through Frank Lampard's 23rd-minute penalty, awarded for a foul by James Collins on Florent Malouda.

But Ashley Young equalised with another penalty four minutes before half-time after Michael Essien had barged over Nigel Reo-Coker.

Emile Heskey then beat Jeffrey Bruma to a header to put Villa ahead two minutes into the second period and man-of-the-match Friedel made two stellar saves to preserve the lead. Friedel somehow pushed Lampard's close-range volley over the bar and then charged down an effort by Malouda.

Loose ball

But Friedel could do little in the 84th when Drogba collected a loose ball in the area and worked space for an angled shot that beat three defenders and the American goalkeeper.

Friedel did stop Drogba's 89th-minute header after Albrighton had given the ball away to Essien, but was beaten by Terry's low shot from the rebound.

The Chelsea players swarmed around under-pressure manager Carlo Ancelotti to celebrate, but Albrighton atoned for his error with the curling cross that Clark headed in at the far post.

"We showed today we've got a lot of fight in us, and we're going to have a lot of fight in us for the rest of the season," Friedel said.

Having led for the first three months of the season, Chelsea are now six points behind Manchester United and Manchester City, who both won Saturday to stay tied on points at the top of the Premier League.