Chelsea were hit with injury and suspension misery as they ended with nine men with Ricardo Carvalho and Ashley Cole shown the red card while losing stand-in skipper Frank Lampard to a thigh problem, in the 4-4 draw against Aston Villa in the Premiership clash at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day.

England midfielder Lampard, who is wearing the Blues armband in the injury-enforced absence of John Terry, suffered a thigh injury early in the first half and was replaced in the 26th minute.

In the second half, defender Carvalho was given the marching orders by Phil Dowd for a two-footed lunge on Villa attacker Gabriel Agbonlahor. In the closing stages, left-back Cole was sent off for a deliberate handball off Agbonlahor’s header.

Avram Grant’s side are already without powerful forward Didier Drogba (knee) and Terry (foot) and will hope Lampard is back to action soon.

The hectic festive period could well prove to be the decisive phase for the Blues in terms of the title challenge as it did last time around when the West London club missed their key players. And with today's draw, Chelsea have already lost ground from the title race.