Branislav Ivanovic headed a second-half winner as Chelsea escaped from a lacklustre performance against Aston Villa with a 2-1 victory on Wednesday in the Premier League.
The Serb rose to power a freekick from Frank Lampard into the back of the net on 73 minutes, after Christian Benteke had cancelled out an early own goal from Villa defender Antonio Luna.
The Chelsea defender was perhaps lucky to be on the pitch, however, as moments before he grabbed the winner he was adjudged to have elbowed Benteke with referee Kevin Friend producing only a yellow card when it could have been red.
The Villa dugout was up in arms again in stoppage time when John Terry appeared to handle a cross from Fabian Delph but Friend waved away their appeals.
The win means Chelsea have a perfect six points from their opening two league matches after beating Hull City on Sunday, while Villa could not repeat their shock win over Arsenal on Saturday.
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