Christmas drama at Stamford Bridge back in 2007

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December 2007: Chelsea 4 - 4 Aston Villa

Seventeen years ago, Gareth Barry's late penalty rescued a dramatic draw for Aston Villa in what was a truly remarkable match.

What happened in the match?

The tone for a dramatic match was set from the outset as Chelsea made a sloppy start and early mistakes by full-backs Ashley Cole and Paulo Ferreira saw Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor drag efforts narrowly wide.

Shaun Maloney eventually fired Villa into the lead with a volley before Petr Cech’s blunder gifted him a second. However, Zat Knight’s red card swung the momentum, allowing Andriy Shevchenko to convert a penalty.

Shevchenko then powered in an equaliser, and Alex smashed Chelsea into the lead. But Villa fought back, with Martin Laursen levelling the score before Ricardo Carvalho was sent off for a reckless challenge.

Michael Ballack’s superb free-kick looked to have sealed the win for Chelsea, but Gareth Barry kept his cool to make it 4-4 after Ashley Cole was dismissed for a handball.

At 2-0 down and seconds from half-time, a struggling Chelsea might have been content with a point to extend their 71-game unbeaten home league run. However, after playing against ten men for the entire second half and leading twice in the final 15 minutes, manager Avram Grant was furious with his team’s failure to hold on for the win.

Throwback to a Christmas cracker from 1995

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Jamie, a Villa fan, was at this game and remembers it fondly: "In terms of the drana, it remains one of my favourite games that I have ever attended. Chelsea were world class then and even though they had one less player than us, they still caused us so many problems."

The impact on Chelsea's season

The 2007–08 Premier League season was eventually decided dramatically on the final day. Chelsea needed to win their match against Bolton Wanderers while hoping that Manchester United would either draw or lose to Wigan Athletic. Chelsea managed a 1–1 draw, but Manchester United won their game 2–0. 

As a result, Chelsea finished as runners-up to Manchester United for the second consecutive season. How costly were these two points? Every point matters in a title race. They did manage another campaign without suffering a single defeat at home. In spite of this, it ended being the first season in four years that they had finished the season without a trophy. 

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