Troubled Chelsea finally showed some spirit as they fought back from two goals down to dent Aston Villa’s top four bid in the Premier League with a dramatic 2-2 draw on Saturday.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side trailed to Marc Cucurella’s early own goal and a Morgan Rogers strike before half-time at Villa Park.
But rather than capitulate as they did in Tuesday’s humiliating 5-0 loss at Arsenal, the Blues dug deep to rescue a gritty point thanks to goals from Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher.
Chelsea thought they had won it deep into stoppage-time when Villa keeper Robin Olsen turned Axel Disasi’s effort into his own net, however, to Pochettino’s fury, the goal was disallowed for a Benoit Badiashile foul.
The draw was a blow to Villa’s hopes of holding off Tottenham in the race to qualify for the Champions League via a top four finish.
Villa are seven points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham, who host Premier League leaders Arsenal on Sunday in the first of three games in hand on Unai Emery’s side.
Although Villa, who last finished as high as fourth in 1995-96, remain favourites to clinch the lucrative Champions League berth, they might feel a little nervous if Tottenham win the north London derby.
Villa were well below their best and must recover quickly as they face Olympiakos in the Europa Conference League semi-final first leg on Thursday.
The under-fire Pochettino reportedly retains the backing of Chelsea’s ninth placed squad — which has been assembled for over £1 billion — despite a difficult campaign that included an FA Cup semi-final loss to Manchester City last weekend.
They proved that point by refusing to surrender against a Villa team that flew at them in a vibrant start.
– Chelsea refuse to surrender –
In the fourth minute, Lucas Digne poked a low cross into the Chelsea six-yard box, where John McGinn’s scuffed shot was deflected into his own net by Cucurella.
