Chelsea, who opened the scoring through Didier Drogba before Gabriel Agbonlahor equalised, dominated the contest, but a combination of poor finishing and Sorensen's superlative performance left Jose Mourinho's side frustrated.• Jose unhappy, O'Neill enjoyment
Arjen Robben's free-kick caused all kinds of confusion in the Villa defence before the ball dropped at Drogba's feet with the goal at his mercy. Olof Mellberg challenged and the Ivory Coast striker forced the ball home.
Three minutes later Frank Lampard brought a superb save from Sorensen with a 25-yard drive.
Villa demonstrated they had the capacity to hurt the champions when Stiliyan Petrov forced Petr Cech to punch the ball for a corner with a stinging 20-yard drive in the 15th minute.
But four minutes later Villa had Sorensen to thank for preventing Chelsea from adding to their lead.
Robben concluded a mazy run on the left flank by pulling the ball back for Lampard to force the Danish goalkeeper into another fine save.
In the 27th minute Sorensen had to be alert to deal with a header from Michael Essien.
In the 43rd minute Agbonlahor took advantage of a wayward pass from Ricardo Carvalho to run at the Chelsea defence and win a corner.
It brought them an equaliser when Drogba's initial headed clearance was sent back into the danger area by Steven Davis.
His cross found the unmarked Liam Ridgewell at the far post and when he headed the ball back into the six-yard box, Agbonlahor sent a glancing effort beyond the Cech for the leveller.
Shaun Wright-Phillips smashed the ball against the underside of the crossbar in the 69th minute.
In the 72nd minute Lampard should have scored, but he sent his header wide of the target.
Jose unhappy, O'Neill enjoyment
Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho lamented his side's poor finishing as the Barclays
Premiership champions had to settle for a point against unbeaten Aston Villa at
Stamford Bridge.
The current leaders were given the perfect start through Didier Drogba, but
Gabriel Agbonlahor equalised on the stroke of half-time.
Despite intense second-half pressure, Chelsea could not find a way past the
inspired Thomas Sorensen in the Villa goal.
Mourinho said: 'When you play well and don't get results, you are not
frustrated - you just accept it.
'But when you play so well like we did and produce a game of high quality
with so many chances to win the game, everybody knows you deserve to win.
'I think the production of football is important as well as philosophy of
both teams. In this game, one team wanted to win and the other one wanted a
point.
'I don't blame Villa. They came here to play their game and when they went
one down, they had a reaction. In the second half, I don't think they could have
done any more. They could not stop us.
'Their goalkeeper saved well. He made two or three very good saves but the
post also did very well for them.
'But I don't want to focus on the strikers because everybody in my team had a
chance to score a goal.
'The team played well but could not score enough goals to win. It was one of
those games when I was praying for the ball to hit the net and Martin O'Neill
was praying for the match to finish.
'We shared some nice words at the end. He's a good guy and a motivator. His
team fights a lot.
'Sometimes people like him and players like that deserve a little bit of
luck.'
Villa boss O'Neill admitted his side were made to hang on under severe
pressure to claim a point but was delighted with their performance.
O'Neill said: 'I enjoyed it. We got off to a very poor start and looked more
than a bit apprehensive.
'But after the first 10 or 12 minutes we started to cause them problems.
'We became more positive and we deserved to be level at half-time. We came
under severe pressure in the second half, especially in the last 20 minutes.
'But we were a threat to them and thought we did very well. There's a bit
more confidence in the side now and on another day we could have caved in. But
we showed some resilience and didn't do that.'
O'Neill's natural enthusiasm for the game brought him words of advice from
both referee Graham Poll and Chelsea boss Mourinho.
Poll was forced to lecture the Villa boss in the opening half after he
contested numerous decisions against his side and Mourinho offered his more
advice at the end of the game.
O'Neill said: 'Graham just said to me I should not be contesting the
decisions and he was right at that stage.
'There is only one referee in the game and it would have been good if he'd
been it,' he joked.
'Jose said I was contesting a lot of decisions and I might have a heart
attack. He may be right on both.
'But he has been terrific for the game and they have got a great side. They
are in full flow right now.'
Chelsea 1 - 1 Aston Villa
