27/08/2000 Aston Villa 1 Chelsea 1 Nilis fired home in the 10th minute after collecting Alan Wright's low cross as Villa attempted to gain revenge for their FA Cup final defeat at the hands of the Blues. But Gianluca Vialli's men had absorbed the lessons of their midweek away loss to Bradford and fought back to equalise through Marcel Desailly who headed home Dennis Wise's corner with David James, recalled to the England squad, going walkabout. James redeemed himself, however, in a low key second half producing one excellent reaction save from Roberto Di Matteo before Tore Andre Flo missed a great chance to snatch victory at the death. A point apiece left Villa down the wrong end of the table after two draws this season while Chelsea missed the chance to go joint top of the table, failing to take advantage of Manchester United's slip up at West Ham. Chelsea's problems had started before kick-off with Ed de Goey picking up an injury in the warm-up and unable to start, Carlo Cudicini taking his place. The Italian was making only his second Premiership appearance for the Blues but could not be held responsible for Villa's opener, which was superbly taken by Nilis. Alan Wright's low cross was mediocre at best but Nilis reacted quickly, nipping in front of Frank Leboeuf - playing for the first time this season after his row with manager Vialli - before turning to thump a thunderous left foot shot past the helpless goalkeeper. Seconds earlier it had been the visitors who created the best opening, Wise's clever free-kick releasing Celestine Babayaro to the byline but with several players waiting the Nigerian's cross drifted harmlessly out of play. Nilis, in for the injured David Ginola in the only change to the side that drew at Leicester on the opening day of the season, was proving a real handful and brought a good save from Cudicini low down at his near post after twisting and turning superbly in the area. At the other end James was fortunate to get away with a weak punch under challenge from Christian Panucci and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, as the Blues belatedly came to life. Chelsea's problems increased in the 25th minute when Mario Stanic became the second apparently self-inflicted injury victim, the Croatian looking to have twisted his knee as he attempted to turn with the ball near the corner flag. That brought Jody Morris into the action, but the midfielder had little chance to influence the game before the visitors were level just before the half hour. Wise's long range effort was deflected wide by Gareth Southgate and from the resulting corner Wise found Marcel Desailly arriving late to head home as James came off his line but failed to get near to the ball. Flo then shrugged off the attentions of Turkish international Alpay Ozalan to burst into the box but his ambitious effort on goal curled well wide. Southgate showed why he has been a target of Chelsea boss Vialli - and now reportedly of Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger as well - with a well-timed block just inside the area as Flo shaped to shoot. In a week littered with red and yellow cards some sensible refereeing by Paul Durkin allowed the official to keep his cards in his pocket until just before the interval, Hasselbaink with no grounds for complaint after needlessly going through the back of Hendrie after the ball had gone. Nilis again got the better of Leboeuf in injury time but Desailly just got back to cover and block the Belgian's shot on goal. Di Matteo had the first attempt on goal in the second period, his long range shot deflected wide for a corner that Villa comfortably cleared. Alpay then went close in the 51st minute, just directing his header from Merson's corner the wrong side of the upright. Two minutes later Chelsea had stand-in keeper Cudicini to thank for keeping them level as he pulled off a superb reaction save from Hendrie's close range attempted lob, after Desailly had failed to clear Stone's through ball. Desailly was then guilty of a petulant little kick at Merson after the two tangled on the right touchline, the French international aiming a back heel at the prone Villa player that the referee and his assistant failed to spot. To his credit Merson made nothing of the incident and had earlier been applauded by the referee for indicating he had slipped and not been brought down when trying to go round Babayaro. The game had gone into a lull and Villa boss John Gregory attempted to liven things up by introducing the pacy Julian Joachim for the goalscorer Nilis on 70 minutes. Hasselbaink then produced his first contribution of any note all afternoon, a run and shot that James comfortably saved before he was replaced by Eidur Gudjohnsen with quarter of an hour left. Chelsea were generally reduced to shooting from long range, Di Matteo flashing a volley just wide and James easily gathering Poyet's 30 yard effort. The Villa keeper had to be at his best to keep out Di Matteo again with nine minutes to go, James at full stretch to tip over the Italian's first time effort from just inside the area. The visitors looked the most likely to snatch a winner and Flo came agonisingly close to doing just that with seconds to go, chipping the keeper after being put through by Gudjohnsen only to see his shot drift inches wide of the far post.