The former Chelsea defender, under pressure from Dennis Wise, headed Chris Sutton's flick-on past Tim Flowers and gifted Chelsea a point a minute after it looked like another Chelsea old boy Muzzy Izzet had given the home side all three.

The climax was fitting to a thrilling game that saw Chelsea spurn chance after chance and almost count the cost in the most devastating fashion.

With one minute to go, Chelsea old boy Muzzy Izzet haunted his former club after Sinclair's last-minute long ball landed on Emile Heskey's head, only for the powerful forward to be brought down by Albert Ferrer.

Izzet made no mistake from the spot for the second successive game, but Sinclair's aberration - one injury-time own-goal is unlucky, two is careless - cost Leicester two points.

Emile Heskey opened the scoring with his first Premiership goal since December 12 but it was cancelled out by a Dennis Wise header just after the break.

Nottingham Forest were the last opponents to concede to Heskey who was carried off in last week's game at Arsenal. But he showed no signs of a sore head when he reacted quickest to slot the ball home after Chelsea old boy Izzet's shot deflected off Frank Leboeuf.

And he could have doubled the lead minutes later but he blazed over the bar when unmarked from 15 yards. Forest were relegated after Heskey's strike but Chelsea are going in the opposite direction - and they fought back immediately in the driving rain.

As in their performance midweek, Chelsea, who left out Desailly, Sutton and Deschamps, showed they are capable of creating chances all day long - but once again their finishing was lacklustre. Tore Andre Flo should have levelled the scores when Gianfranco Zola squared to him - but the rangy Norwegian took one touch too many and the danger was cleared. Perhaps had he come off the bench it might have been a formality.

Leicester's new keeper Tim Flowers was in inspired form as he denied Babayaro, Ferrer, Poyet and Petrescu with fine stops. He was beaten once by Poyet but the free-scoring Uruguayan midfielder saw his left-foot pile-driver cannon off the crossbar.

Though the pressure was all coming from the visitors, Leicester were proving a difficult proposition to break down. Frank Sinclair embodied the spirit by doing all that was within the rules - and a bit that wasn't - to prevent his former team-mate Zola from jinking past him. The tempo increased even more when Robbie Savage infuriated the Chelsea bench with an over-enthusiastic challenge on Flo.

Leicester's second-half resistance was not so strong. After Wise's equaliser, Goldbaek tested Flowers with a curling 20-yarder and Poyet was allowed space but missed the target on the hour. Chelsea relaxed for a minute but were almost punished when Andy Impey cut in from the right and launched a left-foot missile that hit the outside of Ed de Goey's post.

Anything he could do, Goldbaek wes determined to prove he could do better. That seemed the case when he hammered a shot from 28 yards out that smacked against the crossbar. The upright was still shaking five minutes later when an unmarked Wise hit a shot straight at Flowers. Goldbaek proved that new signing Gabriele Ambrosetti would have to fight for his place when he jinked through the defence but hit his shot over the bar.

Both managers made their intentions clear with fifteen minutes on the clock - Vialli brought on Sutton and O'Neill Ian Marshall. And it was the Leicester sub who almost had the biggest say of the day, but his 87th-minute header was clawed away by de Goey.

That proved to be the calm before the storm as the two goals in the last minute ensured that Sinclair will forever be hailed as a Chelsea hero, even when he is no longer there. One can only hope that he is half as popular with Leicester fans.

Chelsea boss Gianluca Vialli said: "I didn't really feel any sympathy, as I was so pleased that we'd scored, and I didn't really know who'd got the final touch. But Frank played marvellously and he is big enough and strong enough to cope with the situation. Next week I'm sure he'll play out of his skin like he did today."

Vialli continued: "When you see the opposition score with one minute to go, you get a bit worried. But I'm pleased that my players showed great spirit to come back. When we play football we are almost unstoppable, but we have to learn how to play for 90 minutes now.

"We've lost six players through injury and showed tiredness because our team is not the youngest in the Premiership. But it has been a good start and we must continue our good form."

Leicester: Flowers, Sinclair, Taggart (Gilchrist 86), Izzet, Lennon, Heskey, Guppy, Savage, Elliott, Impey, Cottee (Marshall 72)
Subs Not Used: Arphexad, Oakes, Zagorakis.
Booked: Lennon, Elliott.
Goals: Heskey 10, Izzet 90 pen.

Chelsea: De Goey, Petrescu, Babayaro, Hogh, Leboeuf, Poyet, Wise, Le Saux (Goldbaek 23), Ferrer, Flo, Zola (Sutton 69).
Subs Not Used: Nicholls, Cudicini, Percassi.
Booked: Wise, Petrescu, Poyet, Babayaro, Ferrer.
Goals: Wise 48, Sinclair 90 og.

Att: 21,068