Twin towers Richard Dunne and James Collins were the heroes as Villa came from behind to claim a stunning victory over Chelsea.

Martin O’Neill’s men trailed when goalkeeper Brad Friedel was guilty of a howler, allowing Didier Drogba’s long-range effort to bounce over him and into the net.

But, in what was a thrilling encounter, Villa rallied and goals in each half from Dunne and Collins – both headers from Ashley Young corners – handed the home side three precious points.

It means the claret and blues have now lost just one of their last nine games and maintained their 100 per cent record against the big four this term.

Kick-off was delayed after Steve Bennett was taken ill shortly before the start, with fourth official Kevin Friend taking over refereeing duties.

It took just 11 minutes for the Leicestershire official to be at the centre of controversy when, much to O’Neill and the home support’s disgust, waving away Gabby Agbonlahor’s penalty claims after the Villa forward went down under Jose Bosingwa’s challenge.

Their frustrations intensified when Chelsea took the lead, Friedel making a complete hash of a speculative 30-yard effort from Drogba with the veteran horribly misjudging the bounce of the ball.

Even by his own standards, O’Neill was particularly animated on the touchline with some of Friend’s decisions appearing to favour the visitors.

His mood was not helped when he was accidentally poleaxed by Nicolas Anelka, after a challenge on the Frenchman sent him hurtling into the Villa manager.

But there was no sign of Villa heads going down, with some superb football rewarded with the equaliser in the 32nd minute.

Young’s corner, forced by some wonderful combination play between John Carew and Stiliyan Petrov, was inadvertently flicked on by Frank Lampard and Richard Dunne dived in at the back post to level.

Friedel redeemed himself with a stunning save on 36, backpedalling furiously before clawing Deco’s sublime chip over the crossbar.

It was a pulsating encounter, with the game fizzing furiously from end-to-end with both Friedel and Chelsea counterpart Petr Cech regularly called into action.

But it was O’Neill’s men who eventually forged ahead and again it was courtesy of one of their centre-backs from a Young corner.

Chelsea’s defence was nowhere to be seen and, with goalkeeper Cech caught in no man’s land, Collins rose unmarked to plant a header in the empty net.

Inevitably, Villa came under a barrage of pressure as the Blues stepped up their search for an equaliser and Lampard saw a shot fly narrowly past the post.

There was another scare for Villa four minutes later when Drogba threaded through Deco, but Friedel charged off his line and made a smothering save.

The American came to the rescue again soon afterwards, when he palmed away a vicious Malouda shot.

But Villa themselves still threatened, with Dunne almost notching a second from a set-piece then Carew agonisingly failing to connect cleanly with a Milner cross driven across the six-yard box.

The home side survived the anxious final few moments to hang on for a richly-deserved victory.