Cesc Fabregas rescued Chelsea twice in a spicy 2-2 London derby draw against high-flying West Ham United at Stamford Bridge this afternoon.
The Spain midfielder equalised Manuel Lanzini's 16th minute opener with a wonder free-kick on the stroke of half-time.
And he was on the spot - literally to salvage an undeserved point with a minute left when, after Roy Carroll had put the Hammers ahead on 62 minutes, he smacked home the perfect penalty on 89 minutes after Bertrand Traore was bundled over in the penalty area.
Chelsea remain 10th in the league with just pride to play for now.
An offside apiece in the opening coupe of minutes signalled the intent of both sides - that is to get forward quickly without too much thought about where the defenders were. The trap was breached first by the home side on nine minutes, and Loic Remy took advantage and got off a fine angled shot. But West Ham goalkeeper Adrian was well placed at his near post to thwart the effort.
Branislav Ivanovic, restored to his usual right back berth was handed a yellow card on 15 minutes for a foul on Dimitri Payet.
Chelsea concentration must have gone with that frustration as a minute later the stores from down the District line went ahead through the right boot of Manuel Lanzini, who curled the perfect 25-yard curler past the despairing dive of Courtois.
Kenedy tried a right-footer of his own on 26 minutes from the edge of the Hammers penalty area, but his effort sailed high over the bar and into the top area of the Shed Wnd.
The Blues had a desperate plea for a penalty waved away by referee Robert Madley when Antonio Valencia right arm appeared to control the ball.
Aaron Cresswell was unlucky to see his shot zip across the six-yard line, and, aided by a slight deflection by Ivanovic, go for a corner rather than the corner of the net.
Chelsea responded well to the setback but had to wait until five minutes before the break for a goal attempt.
After Kenedy was hauled to the ground, up stepped Willian, but his usual deadly accurate free-kicks was off on this occasion, and zipped inches wide of Adrian's right upright.
Guus Hiddink replaced Kenedy at half time for Pedro.
Their first chance of the second period fell to lacklustre Oscar who tried to flick the ball in at the far post but went wide. It was a good ball in by Ivanovic thou.
Adrian then punched out a John Terry header as the Blues went for thee jugular.
With West Ham reduced to counter attacking play, it almost bore fruit on 56 minutes when Cresswell found himself inside the Chelsea area, on the left. he tried to cut the ball across goal, but instead the ball rammed against Courtois's crossbar and out to safety.
hammers boss Slaven Bilic decided that he wanted to alter his play and so brought on Andy Carroll on 58 minutes.
A minute later, the former England striker had put the visitors ahead. Latching onto a defence-splitting pass by Payet, Carroll took two touches before blasting home low, past a prone
Courtois.
The Blues resumed dominance of play and Fabregas was unlucky with a acrobatic overhead kick with 15 minutes left on the clock. The effort just went over Adrian's crossbar from close range.
Terry then had another header that inched over the crossbar as the home side piled on the pressure.
Carroll almost put the game to bed with a powerful header on 86 minutes, but substitute Bertrand Traore kicked the ball off the line.
A minute later and the other substitute Ruben Loftus-Cheek was bundled over by Michail Antonio in the Hammers area and up stepped Fabregas to slot home the perfect penalty to level the scores.
Next up it relegation-haunted Aston Villa away
Teams: Chelsea, Courtois, Ivanovic, Fabregas, Oscar, Mikel, Kenedy, Remy, Willian, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta
Subs, Begovic, Baba, Pato, Traore, Pedro, Matic, Loftus-Cheek
West Ham United: Adrian, Reid, Crewell, Kouyate, Valencia, Sakho, Noble, Ogbonna, Payet, Lanzini, Antonio
Subs: Randolph, Song, Carroll, Obiang, O'Brien, Emenike, Oxford
Refreee
Robert Madley