Chelsea 2 Aston Villa 1

By Mark Bradley, PA Sport Chief Soccer Writer

Tore Andre Flo has fashioned a reputation as the best substitute in the business - but it would be difficult for him to score a more important injury-time goal than he did against Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.

Until he struck with just seconds remaining, it was hard to work out just what Chelsea could do to break down resolute defending from the Premiership leaders that bordered on the desperate and which was allied to a season's worth of good fortune.

The Blues hit the underside of the bar, the angle of crossbar and post and peppered Villa keeper Michael Oakes' goal from all conceivable angles in a thunderous second-half assault.

Still the ball refused to go in and it seemed as if Lee Hendrie's magical piece of individual skill to even matters up just 96 seconds after Gianfranco Zola's 30th-minute trademark free-kick had been enough to earn Villa a draw before Flo struck.

But having miraculously turned a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 victory at Blackburn back in September with a double strike in just 11 minutes on the pitch, this time Flo needed 24 minutes as substitute but still produced the goods.

The Norwegian striker rose high to meet a corner which had been flicked on at the near post and powered his header past Oakes to spark delirium at Stamford Bridge.

Within a minute of the restart, the final whistle had been blown. For so long, however, it had seemed as if Chelsea would be the ones to rue the postponement of the original fixture six weeks ago given that they have lost Pierluigi Casiraghi and Brian Laudrup, while Villa have gained Dion Dublin, since then.

Player boss Gianluca Vialli, who scored a hat-trick in his side's 4-1 victory in the Worthington Cup third round tie between the two sides earlier this season, was back in the line-up though.

And he displayed the full range of his artistry as well as his fired-up commitment early on, volleying one chance just over with a scissors kick.

The Blues still had to be alert to the pace of Julian Joachim on the break as the striker raced clear of Frank Leboeuf and Michael Duberry and just beat keeper Ed De Goey to the ball before rolling his shot agonisingly just past the post.

Tackles were flying in a heavily competitive match, even without Dennis Wise, whose heavy cold conveniently confined him to the substitutes bench after his third red card of the season at the weekend.

One of those tackles led to Chelsea's opener, but there was controversy over whether England defender Gareth Southgate did actually catch Roberto Di Matteo on the edge of the area.

Zola was unmoved by the distractions and curled a free-kick round the wall to beat Oakes before running off to the touchline to celebrate with Wise.

However, within two minutes, Villa were level when a magical turn from Hendrie to bamboozle his marker inside the penalty are after being fed by Joachim left him in space to calmly slot his shot past De Goey.

Chelsea fought back, almost literally in the case of the clearly fired-up Vialli, and Steve Watson somehow deflected a Celestine Babayaro shot just wide from close range and Albert Ferrer had a drive tipped over.

Villa did manage a shot from full-back Alan Wright straight at De Goey just after the break but from then on, they were penned into their own half as Chelsea threw everything they had at them.

Leboeuf thought he had scored with a back-header from Di Matteo but the ball cannoned off the underside of the bar and onto - not over - the goal-line before being cleared.

It was desperate stuff as even Dion Dublin became an effective midfielder, with only Joachim left up front to feed on scraps, and the Villa back three of Southgate, Ugo Ehiogu and Gareth Barry excelled.

Leboeuf shot over, Ferrer had an effort tipped over but Chelsea's attacks were repelled even after the 66th-minute introduction of Flo for Zola. Watson cleared another shot off the line, three defenders threw themselves to block the follow-up, Oakes dived to save from Flo, Barry cleared under pressure, and Ehiogu's outstretched boot was all that denied Flo a clear run on goal.

Even Stan Collymore was involved enough to earn a booking in his nine minutes on the pitch as a substitute for Joachim.

However, Chelsea simply kept on coming forward in ever increasing numbers and refused to give up.

There were loud claims for a penalty with five minutes left as Flo went down in the area after tangling with Ehiogu. Then a piledriver from Leboeuf whistled past the far post and Chelsea's torturous night seemed to have been completed when Le Saux's cross-shot hit the angle of bar and post, and substitute Gustavo Poyet's overhead kick was turned round in the dying seconds.

Then came Flo's late header and given the joyous celebrations at Stamford Bridge, it appeared as if Chelsea had won the title. They may not have done yet, but they took a giant step towards it against Villa.

Teams

Chelsea: De Goey, Petrescu, Babayaro (Poyet 79), Leboeuf, Desailly, Vialli, Duberry, Le Saux, Di Matteo, Ferrer, Zola (Flo 66).

Subs Not Used: Wise, Hitchcock, Lambourde.

Booked: Di Matteo, Vialli.

Goals: Zola 30, Flo 90.

Aston Villa: Oakes, Wright, Southgate, Ehiogu, Watson, Taylor, Thompson, Joachim (Collymore 82), Dublin, Barry, Hendrie.

Subs Not Used: Grayson, Charles, Lescott, Ghent.

Booked: Thompson, Barry, Hendrie, Collymore, Dublin.

Goals: Hendrie 32.

Att: 34,765

Ref: A B Wilkie (Chester-le-Street).