Villa shatter unbeaten Chelsea run

Birmingham, England -- Defender Zat Knight scored on his debut to help Aston Villa defeat Chelsea 2-0 and shatter the London club's seven-month unbeaten Premier League run.

Knight, a $7 million signing from Fulham, had deflected the ball into his own net on the same ground a week earlier in his final league match for Fulham.

But he was delirious with joy after heading the opening goal after 47 minutes and then, with two minutes left, Gabriel Agbonlahor made sure of victory with a second goal.

Defeat cost Chelsea the chance to regain top spot in the Premier League from Liverpool, the last side to defeat them in the competition at Anfield in January.

Chelsea began positively and had strong claims for a penalty when central defender Martin Laursen appeared to wrestle Shaun Wright-Phillips to the ground but referee Mark Clattenburg waved play on.

But it was Chelsea keeper Petr Cech who was called upon to make the first meaningful save. Ashley Young's dangerous ball into the near-post picked out Agbonlahor and he spun sharply and had his powerful left-footed drive parried away by Cech.

Chelsea were soon back on the offensive and captain John Terry was only just too high with a header from Florent Malouda's inswinging corner.

Then Villa keeper Scott Carson was twice called into action to save low drives from Michael Essien and Wright-Phillips respectively.

Villa began the second half strongly and Cech tipped over a curling effort from Young after John Carew had laid the ball back into his path.

Then after 47 minutes, boyhood Villa supporter Knight celebrated his debut by putting Martin O'Neill's side in front.

Gareth Barry supplied the inswinging corner and Knight rose above Didier Drogba to head past Cech. Ashley Cole tried to keep out the downward header but could only help it over the line.

Jose Mourinho's instant response was to take off John Obi Mikel and bring on Claudio Pizarro as he reverted from a 4-5-1 to a 4-4-2 formation.

Predictably Chelsea launched an offensive and Drogba showed great skill to spin past Laursen and race into the Villa box but Olaf Mellberg did well to cut out his low center.

Mourinho then brought on Joe Cole and Salomon Kalou for Wright-Phillips and Claude Makelele respectively. It was now one-way traffic towards the Villa goal and Terry was only just too high with a powerful header from a Joe Cole corner.

But the Blues were still struggling to create clear-cut openings for all their lengthy spells of possession and, with two minutes left, Agbonlahor turned home Young's cross from the left flank to settle the issue.

Meanwhile, Arsenal turned on the style to beat Portsmouth 3-1 and underline why manager Arsene Wenger believes he can succeed without help from any Russian billionaires.

Wenger's side completely overwhelmed Portsmouth at the Emirates Stadium to extend their unbeaten start to the season despite playing most of the second half with 10 men.

Emmanuel Adebayor opened the scoring from the penalty spot and Cesc Fabregas added a second before Philippe Senderos was sent off.

Tomas Rosicky put the result beyond doubt and Nwankwo Kanu's reply just a minute later was no consolation for the visitors.

Wenger may find he has a vast amount of roubles to spend if David Dein's decision to sell his stake in Arsenal to Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov leads to a takeover.

But the Frenchman's belief that it is better to build a team with a mix of youth and experience rather than paying big money for star names is bearing fruit once again.

It took only seven minutes for Arsenal to take the lead. So often Wenger's side score the perfectly crafted goal but this one owed more to good fortune than good passing.

Gael Clichy closed down Lauren on the edge of the Portsmouth area and the momentum of his challenge sent the ball through to Robin van Persie.

The Dutch striker took full advantage. He clipped the ball round David James and when the Portsmouth goalkeeper's slide sent him sprawling a penalty was the inevitable result.

Van Persie had missed his last penalty against Manchester City and he handed the spot-kick duties to Adebayor. It was the right decision as Adebayor stepped up and languidly sent James the wrong way to claim his first goal of the season.

Adebayor could have had a second moments later but this time the Togo striker's laid-back style let him down. All he had to do was throw himself at Alexander Hleb's cross and he would surely have scored. Instead he stuck out a tenative toe and the chance was gone.

The second goal came after Adebayor won a corner from another flowing raid in the 35th minute. Gilberto Silva flicked on Rosicky's set-piece and the ball struck Fabregas high on his arm before falling kindly for him to drive past James from close range.

The visitors were handed a glimmer of hope when Kanu got behind Senderos in the 49th minute. Senderos clumsily dragged the former Arsenal forward down on the edge of the area and, as he was the last man, Mark Halsey had no option but to send him off.

Arsenal kept attacking despite Senderos' dismissal and were rewarded for their enterprise with a third goal after 59 minutes.

Fabregas took a quick free-kick to Tomas Rosicky and the Czech winger drilled his shot past James via a deflection off Glen Johnson.

Portsmouth reduced the deficit in bizarre fashion a minute later when Kanu met John Utaka's cross and somehow diverted the ball past Manuel Almunia even though he totally mistimed his shot.

Only poor finishing prevented Arsenal scoring more, with Abou Diaby guilty of a shocking headed miss from Gael Clichy's cross.

The result lifted Arsenal to second place in the Premier League on 10 points, behind leaders Liverpool on goal difference.

In the day's other match, Benni McCarthy opened his Premier League scoring account for the new season as Blackburn took the wind out of Manchester City's sails with a 1-0 win at Ewood Park.

The South African striker pounced after 13 minutes to claim what was to be the only goal of a match both sides ended with 10 men.

The three points lifted Mark Hughes's side into seventh place while City, who had started the season brightly under new manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, slipped a place to fifth position. E-mail to a friend