Chelsea may be dominating the Premiership but this was hardly reflected in this game as Villa fully deserved a vital home point to ease their fight against relegation.
Their hero was Luke Moore who grabbed a 78th minute equaliser four minutes after being sent on as a substitute by manager David O'Leary.
Moore certainly likes playing against Chelsea as he was the first player to score against the champions in September to earn himself a £10,000 bonus from a national newspaper.
Chelsea have not won at Villa Park since 1999 and it is now eight games since they took maximum points from the Birmingham side.
There is a rich blend of talent in the Chelsea side but they had to fight hard for their point which was achieved by a 15th minute goal from Arjen Robben.
For a period early on Chelsea only operated at half throttle but it became increasingly obvious that they were a class ahead of Villa at this stage.
It wasn't so in the second half as Villa strived for the equaliser which they deservedly achieved when Moore forced the ball home with 12 minutes left.
The speed of Chelsea's attacks was again a feature of their opening play and Villa always had to be alive to the quick break.
Villa attempted to take the game to Chelsea but such tactics only played into the hands of the champions as was illustrated on several occasions.
Better finishing on the part of Gareth Barry as early as the 12th minute might well have given the game a different complexion but the former England player carelessly blasted his shot over the bar.
It was a miss which was to cost Villa dearly as three minutes later Chelsea stormed into the lead when a left-wing cross from William Gallas was shielded by Joe Cole into the path of Robben to notch his fifth goal of the season from close range.
Villa had every justification to be miffed in the 32nd minute when John Terry clearly handled in the area only for referee Rob Styles to ignore a blatant penalty.
This incident appeared to galvanise Villa and only a brilliant diving save by Petr Cech kept out a header from Kevin Phillips.
Chelsea were forced on the back foot at this stage and Barry raised Villa's hopes with a blistering cross-shot which only went just wide of the Londoners goal.
But it was on the break that Chelsea were at their most dangerous with Frank Lampard driving forward but Villa prevented the Londoners increasing their lead.
Gavin McCann was seen in earnest conversation with referee Styles as the officials left the field as he still appeared to be concerned about the Terry handling offence.
In the second period it was the runs of Eidur Gudjohnsen which posed problems for Villa. The Midlanders suffered a setback when McCann handled a left-wing corner from James Milner to collect his fifth booking which will rule him out of the forthcoming game against Newcastle.
With Chelsea going off the boil Villa launched some serious attacks and it was Gallas who came to the league leaders' rescue when he blocked a close-range effort from Phillips.
Manager O'Leary made a double substitution when he sent on Moore and Juan Pablo Angle for Phillips and Baros and the switch paid a handsome dividend.
Mark Delaney made a strong run to the by-line and his short, low cross was turned home by Moore.