PHOTOS: Chelsea suffer shock loss at Villa, Man City crush Hull

Chelsea's title hopes suffered a blow when the English Premier League leaders finished with nine men in a 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday after Manchester City won 2-0 at Hull City to cut the gap at the top to six points.

Chelsea also had coach Jose Mourinho sent to the stands in the dying minutes after the game came to life at Villa Park.

Chelsea stay top with 66 points from 30 games above second-placed City who have 60 points but with three games in hand.

Although Chelsea and City both had players sent off in their matches the London side had no response to Fabian Delph's clever 82nd minute backheel which secured Villa's victory. Third-placed Liverpool and Arsenal both have 59 points and play on Sunday.

Villa's goal came 15 minutes after Chelsea's Willian was sent off for a soft second yellow card while fellow midfielder Ramires was dismissed in stoppage time for a stamp on Karim El Ahmadi.

Manchester City bounced back from their FA Cup and Champions League exits to win 2-0 at Hull City despite playing for 80 minutes with 10 men to keep alive their Premier League title hopes.

City, who climbed to second in the table, had captain Vincent Kompany sent off after 10 minutes for hauling down striker Nikica Jelavic on the edge of his own box.

They then took the lead two minutes later through David Silva before Edin Dzeko added the second in the 90th minute.

Silva scored with a superbly executed curling shot in the 12th minute after a delicate pass from Yaya Toure and although Hull battled gamely, City made light of their one-man disadvantage and stretched their unbeaten away run in the league to eight games.

Dzeko wrapped up the points from point blank range after a pass from Silva.

City coach Manuel Pellegrini was very happy with his team's response after what he called "a very difficult week".

"We have just lost to Wigan and Barcelona so we needed to win today and playing with one player less for 80 minutes was very difficult," he said.

"But we gave a very good performance. We defended well with and without the ball and created a lot of scoring chances and it was a very professional response. We played very well."

Hull manager Steve Bruce said: "The turning point was the goal, if we had gone 10 or 15 minutes (without conceding) after the sending off it might have been a different situation, but we were continually chasing the game against a quality side, even though they only had 10 men.

"We huffed and puffed and got frustrated and it ended up being a difficult afternoon."

Hull, who have now lost their last three home matches, ended the match in 13th place on 30 points before the afternoon fixtures.

The win lifted City in to second place in the table on 60 points, six behind leaders Chelsea who play away at Aston Villa in the day's late kickoff.

Liverpool and Arsenal, who play Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur respectively on Sunday, slipped back to third and fourth with 59 points - at least until they are in action on Sunday.