Martin Laursen admits he took great satisfaction from Aston Villa's 2-0 defeat of Chelsea.
Laursen showed that his long-term knee problems appear to be in the past as he stood up to the physical challenge presented by Didier Drogba.
"Drogba is very strong but on this occasion we did well against him. That is good because he is one of the biggest strikers in Europe.
"To do so well against him is a big satisfaction."
Debutant and Villa fan Zat Knight, who scored the opening goal, paid tribute to the way Laursen fought back from the injury problems which at one stage threatened to end his career.
He said: "I haven't been here but I still follow Villa and I know Martin has had a few bad injuries and I was really happy for him to get man of the match against Chelsea.
"He had a great game. He has shown a lot of character to come through the last three years and you have to take your hat off to him.
"He struggled for three years and showed against Chelsea what he can do."