Nine-man Chelsea in eight-goal thriller

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Michael Ballack appeared to have snatched victory for Chelsea with a free-kick three minutes from time amid some controversial refereeing from Phil Dowd, but Barry converted from the spot in time added on after Ashley Cole had been sent off for handling Gabriel Agbonlahor's shot on the line.

Zat Knight and Ricardo Carvalho also received their marching orders in an eventful afternoon in west London, in which two goals from Andriy Shevchenko cancelled out a brace from Shaun Maloney. Further goals from Alex and Martin Laursen then set up the thrilling finale.

Maloney's double had put Villa on course for their first Premier League double against Chelsea but disaster struck when Knight was sent off on the stroke of half-time.

Knight had clipped substitute Ballack, who was making his first league appearance of the season, and Dowd reached for the red card after pointing to the spot.

It was a harsh dismissal that is sure to have infuriated Villa boss Martin O'Neill and Shevchenko powered home the penalty to spark Chelsea's fightback.

The Ukrainian fired a stunning second and then set up defender Alex who finished clinically to give the Blues the lead for the first time.

But Laursen escaped a static Chelsea defence to level the score at 3-3 and set up that dramatic climax.

Chelsea, who were already missing John Terry and Didier Drogba for the Christmas schedule, also lost Carvalho for three games following his red card.

Carvalho crashed into Ashley Young with a two-footed challenge that was correctly punished by Dowd and the Portuguese will join Cole on the sidelines.