LONDON -- Chelsea stretched its lead over Manchester United at the top of the Premier League to three points despite a 3-3 draw with Everton after the defending champion lost 1-0 at home to Aston Villa.
Didier Drogba scored twice as Chelsea recovered from an early own-goal by goalkeeper Petr Cech, but Everton fought back to equalize twice and secure a valuable point in its efforts to move away from the bottom of the standings.
Chelsea had not conceded a goal at Stamford Bridge since the opening day of the season.
It now has lost its perfect home record and has not won for four matches, but was helped by United's fourth loss of the season.
Gabriel Agbonlahor scored for Villa in the 21st minute with a header from Ashley Young's left-wing cross.
"Who can say we are in crisis?" Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said. "I don't think so. I want to be objective and, when I look at the game and the way we played, I saw that my team played very well.
"We still have the same chance to win the title. It will be a long race until the end of the season. The Premier League is very competitive."
Also yesterday, Manchester City equalized three times to hold Bolton 3-3 and draw for the eighth time in nine Premier League games, while Tottenham's hopes of staying in contention for Champions League qualification took a big hit with a 1-0 loss against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Birmingham moved to within three points of Spurs with midfielder Lee Bowyer scoring for a 1-0 win over former club West Ham, Fulham drew 1-1 at Burnley and last-place Portsmouth equalized in the final minute for a 1-1 draw at Sunderland.
In the other games, Blackburn drew 0-0 with Hull and Maynor Figueroa scored from halfway to help Wigan to a 2-2 draw at Stoke.
