Blues fight back from two down at Villa

Chelsea fought back from two goals down to earn a deserved point against 'Top Four' hopefuls Aston Villa at Villa Park on Saturday night - the Blues unlucky not to bag all three points. 

An own goal from Chelsea full-back Marc Cucurella gave the hosts the lead early on and the hosts entered the break two goals to the good after a low strike from young winger Morgan Rogers. 

However, Chelsea - who had a Nicolas Jackson ruled out for a marginal offside before the break - were dominant for large swathes of the contest, and Noni Madueke grabbed one goal back for the London side before Conor Gallagher curled in a lovely strike to level the scoreline at 2-2.

Cole Palmer went close for the Blues as they went for the jugular and the visitors were up in arms late in added time when Axel Disasi had a headed goal disallowed for an earlier push in the build-up 

The Action: Both sides started brightly at Villa Park, but it was the hosts who wrested the early initiative with a goal inside five minutes. 

The Villans worked the ball well from right to left and Pau Torres stepped into the attack to release Lucas Digne down the left flank for a cross that was scuffed towards goal by John McGinn - the ball finding its way into Chelsea's net via a deflection off Marc Cucurella. 

Mauricio Pochettino's Blues responded well to falling behind and they were unlucky not to draw level on 17 minutes when Nicolas Jackson flicked a tidy finish past Emiliano Martinez, only for the goal to be chalked off for a marginal offside. 

Chelsea continued to press and an exasperated Jackson was again out of luck around the half hour mark when he rose well to meet Cucurella's cross - only for the ball to rebound to safety off the post. 

The Londoners' misfortune was compounded by Villa displaying the kind of clinical edge that had eluded the visitors to that point. 

Morgan Rogers has settled well after his January move to Villa from Middlesbrough, and the 21-year-old made it 2-0 to the hosts with a low strike that sped into the net at the near post. 

Half-time: Villa 2-0 Chelsea

A similar pattern emerged soon after the restart and Noni Madueke had already come close to reducing the arrears for Chelsea, when the winger did nab a goal back. 

Conor Gallagher was instrumental in winning the ball back near the Villa area and when the England man burst into the box, Madueke latched onto the ball to slide home a low finish. 

The Londoners remained largely in the ascendency, but didn't create anything glaringly clear-cut until Gallagher equalised with a moment of magic on 80 minutes. 

The Three Lions midfielder was arguably afforded too much space on the edge of the box, but his curling left-foot finish past Robin Olsen (who had replaced the injured Martinez) was a top drawer strike. 

Ollie Watkins fired a snapshot high and wide, but Villa were on the back foot and Cole Palmer was denied by a sprawling save from Olsen after a lovely break through the heart of the home side's backline.

There was even time for a final dramatic VAR moment, as Axel Disasi thought he had scored a match-winning header deep into added time - but the officials correctly identified a push on Diego Carlos in the build-up and disallowed another Chelsea goal. 

A breathless game ended with Jhon Duran heading over for Villa - and with irate Chelsea players surrounding the officials at the final whistle to berate them for annulling Disasi's late strike.