O'Neill had every reason to jump around at Stamford Bridge after Gabriel Agbonlahor's headed equaliser maintained Villa's unbeaten start under his leadership.

Agbonlahor's goal cancelled out Didier Drogba's early strike to ensure O'Neill came away with some measure of revenge on the first occasion he has met Chelsea chief Mourinho since the 2003 UEFA Cup final.

O'Neill and Mourinho embraced at full-time on Saturday and agreed to draw a line under events in Seville, when the Special One's touchline antics angered the Celtic manager, who accused the Portuguese side of play-acting and unsporting behaviour, as Porto beat the Scottish team 3-2.

Even Chelsea's cheap jibe of showing a photo of O'Neill walking away from the presentation table in Seville with a loser's medal, alongside Mourinho's programme notes, could not detract from the mutual respect that now exists between the two men.

O'Neill said: "Jose came up to me at the end and said that I was contesting so many decisions that he feared I might be a candidate for a heart attack.

"He might be right on both counts! In Seville it was him contesting all the decisions, so perhaps I got my own back.

"I enjoyed the game. We got off to a very poor start and looked apprehensive, but after the initial 10 to 12 minutes we came back into it.

"We changed the formation and we caused some problems for Chelsea. We became more positive and deserved to be level at half-time.

"I thought we were a threat, and we look a much more confident side than when we went to (Arsenal's) Emirates Stadium on the opening day.

"We could have caved in when we conceded, but we showed resilience. There were some nervy moments, like when Shaun Wright-Phillips hit the underside of the bar.

"I thought Gabriel Agbonlahor was fantastic. I knew very little about him when I joined the club but he has been a breath of fresh air.

"He is exciting and wants to take players on and get at the opposition, and people forget that he's actually a centre-forward."

Villa could not have suffered a worse start when, in the third minute, Drogba continued his fine run in front of goal by opening the scoring.

Arjen Robben's flighted ball from the right was contested by Andriy Shevchenko and Thomas Sorensen. The ball then dropped invitingly for Drogba, who still had to force the ball over the line under intense pressure from a Villa defender.

The early blood for Chelsea looked like opening the floodgates, but instead, Villa regrouped impressively and set about making life difficult for the Champions. Stilian Petrov fired a goalbound effort which was beaten away by Petr Cech.

Steven Davis put over a cross from the right and Liam Ridgewell peeled off to the far side and aimed a header back into the area, where Agbonlahor glanced the equalizer beyond the reach of Cech.

"When you don't play well and don't get the result, you are not upset. You are frustrated but you just accept it," said Mourinho.

"To play as well as we did and to make so many chances -- it's frustrating. Everyone could see we deserved to win the game.

"We missed 15 chances. The philosophy of both teams is important -- one team wanted to win, the other wanted a point.

"But I don't blame Aston Villa. When they went a goal down they showed a reaction, and in the second half, they couldn't have done more.

"I liked our performance at Fulham and I thought we were solid in Sofia. Sheva played well and worked very hard, looked sharper and made some good runs in behind the defence. He also looked very good in one-on-one situations.

"He chased back very well when we lost the ball and overall, it was his best game so far for Chelsea."