Tore Andre Flo scored two goals in four minutes to record Chelsea's first Premiership victory over Blackburn as Graeme Le Saux was sent off on his return to Ewood Park.
Rovers were leading this incident-packed game 3-2 with only eight minutes remaining before the Norwegian international struck to turn the match on its head. Flo, who replaced Pierluigi Casiraghi in the 78th minute, equalised in the 82nd minute before he beat the Rovers defence to slot home the winner four minutes from time.
Chelsea's win was their first at Ewood Park in 22 years.
Le Saux was dismissed for swinging a punch at Sebastien Perez midway through the second half. The Frenchman was shown a second yellow card for his part in the bust-up.
Chelsea opened the scoring when Gianfranco Zola struck with a beautifully-executed superb free-kick on 15 minutes. Chris Sutton equalised before Frank Lebeouf, six minutes into the second half, put Chelsea ahead again from the penalty sport after a controversial penalty award.
Blackburn levelled once again through Perez before taking lead with a Sutton penalty. Then Flo entered the fray to decisive effect.
Blackburn Rovers: Flowers, Davidson, Sherwood, Peacock, Henchoz, Flitcroft, Sutton, Wilcox (McKinlay 78), Dahlin, Perez, Dailly. Subs Not Used: Kenna, Johnson, Dunn, Filan. Sent Off: Perez (67). Booked: Flitcroft, Perez, Sutton. Goals: Sutton 22, Perez 57, Sutton 79 pen.
Chelsea: De Goey, Babayaro, Leboeuf, Des ailly, Poyet, Casiraghi (Flo 78), Wise (Di Matteo 54), Duberry, Le Saux, Ferrer, Zola (Laudrup 70). Subs Not Used: Lambourde, Hitchcock. Sent Off: Le Saux (67). Booked: Duberry, Leboeuf. Goals: Zola 15, Leboeuf 51 pen, Flo 82, 86.
Referee: P Jones (Loughborough).
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)