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LONDON - Zat Knight scored on his Aston Villa debut as Chelsea missed a chance to return to the top of the English Premier League yesterday.
Jose Mourinho's side crashed to their first defeat of the campaign, 2-0 at Villa Park.
Missing England midfielder Frank Lampard, who suffered
a thigh strain in training last week, Chelsea struggled for any attacking rhythm and were beaten by second-half goals from debutant central defender Knight and striker Gabriel Agbonlahor. And Chelsea's key striker Didier Drogba hobbled off with a knee problem.
The result left Chelsea fourth, level on 10 points with the leading trio Liverpool, Arsenal and Everton, and one point ahead of fifth-placed Manchester City who lost 1-0 at Blackburn Rovers after a Benni McCarthy strike.
Arsenal beat Portsmouth 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium, despite being reduced to 10 men after a 49th minute red card for Swiss defender Philippe Senderos.
Chelsea gave debuts to both their recently-recruited Brazilian defenders, right-back Juliano Belletti and centre-back Alex, and dominated the game for long periods. But they were unable to turn possession into shots and fell behind when Knight, a boyhood Villa fan signed from Chelsea's neighbours Fulham, headed in from an inswinging corner by Gareth Barry after 47 minutes.
Chelsea threw everything into attack for the remainder of the game, including using their captain, England centre-back John Terry, as an auxiliary striker, without reward.
Villa scored their second in the 88th minute when Agbonlahor shot crisply beyond goalkeeper Petr Cech.
It was Chelsea's first defeat in 19 league outings and extended their bad run at bogey ground Villa Park to nine matches without a win.
The Birmingham stadium also remains the only one in the premier league where Chelsea manager Mourinho has not tasted victory.
Arsenal were two goals ahead at the interval thanks to an eighth-minute penalty from Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor and a 35th-minute close-range finish by Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas.
Senderos was sent off for a clumsy tackle on former Arsenal forward Kanu but the hosts refused to buckle.
Tomas Rosicky, their fluent Czech Republic midfielder, added a third from close range after 59 minutes following a quickly taken free kick by Fabregas. Portsmouth replied just 18 seconds later when Kanu managed to flick the ball into the net rather luckily as he tried to control it.
- Reuters