By DPA,
London : England captain John Terry was sent off as Chelsea’s run of away victories came to an end with a goalless draw against Everton in the English Premier League.
The draw Monday leaves Chelsea second in the table, a point behind the leaders, Liverpool.
Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side had won eight in a row away from home from the start of the season, but never looked like taking that to a record nine after Terry’s 34th-minute dismissal.
His lunge at Leon Osman was probably not malicious, but it was reckless enough to persuade referee Phil Dowd to show him the red card.
As Chelsea lost their discipline, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole were booked for contesting a free-kick decision, and Michael Ballack and Mikel John Obi got themselves involved in an absurd dispute over an aerial challenge from Tim Cahill.
Ballack was later booked for complaining that the wall at a free-kick he was about to take wasn’t back the full 10 yards.
Predictably, Everton offered rather more as an attacking threat in the second half, although that didn’t translate into much in the way of clear-cut chances.
A 76th-minute Tony Hibbert cross that deflected off Lampard and had to be tipped over by Petr Cech was the first notable chance at either end.
Joleon Lescott then drew Cech into a scrambling save with a header from the subsequent corner.
Leighton Baines drove a cross across the face of the goal that Marouane Fallaini couldn’t quite turn in, as the pressure increased on Chelsea.
Cech made another excellent save from Osman, Steven Pienaar being rightly ruled offside as a combination of him and Ballack forced the rebound over the line.
For all the pressure, though, Chelsea hung on.