Tottenham and Chelsea had to settle for a point after they failed to separate each other in a tightly contested London Derby at White Hart Lane.
With both side harbouring hopes of challenging for the Premier League title the meeting between third and fourth was always going to be an exciting one. Spurs, who have made their second best start to a season since the double winning side of the sixties, were boosted by the return of Gareth Bale from injury and his influence was felt in the early minutes crossing for Emmanuel Adebayor to poke home the opener. However they could only hold their lead for 15 minutes before the impressive Daniel Sturridge tapped home from close range following Ashley Cole’s cross from the left. Both sides had chances to win the game in the second half but failed add to the goals tally with Spurs boss Harry Redknapp the happier of the two managers. His side remain above Chelsea and only seven points behind second place behind Manchetser United with a game in hand. For their London rivals the result will see Andre Villas-Boas’ job come under increasing scrutiny once again with four points dropped in the last two games effectively ruling them out of the title race.
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In fact they never looked like winning this game and had the task of coming from behind after Adebayor broke the deadlock after only eight minutes. The home side had started with plenty of vim and vigour especially with Bale back in the side and it was the Welshman who was once again the creator picking up the loose ball following Sandro’s tackle on Sturridge before crossing for Adebayor who nipped in front of John Terry to prod the ball home. Question marks will certainly centre around Petr Cech who should have done better to cut out Bales low cross. The goal proved to be the wake up call Chelsea needed and after absorbing a flurry of pressure from the hosts they finally sparked into life and levelled proceedings on 23 minutes. Didier Drogba flicked the ball into the path of the onrushing Cole who appeared to control the ball with his arm before crossing for Sturridge who turned the ball into an empty net with Brad Friedel stranded. Drogba then crashed a thunderous strike off the upright as the Blues threatened to go in front before seeing their momentum sapped by injuries to Branislav Ivanovic and Jon Obi Mikel.
The tempo certainly dropped after the break although the visitors did have two chances to score early on in the second period with Ramires denied by Friedel after he raced clear before the veteran American kept out Terry’s goal bound header. Adebayor then thought he’d scored his second of the game only for it to be ruled out for offside before Sandro glanced a header wide from Luka Modric‘s corner as Spurs threatened to retake the lead. Still Chelsea threatened every time they came forward and Friedel needed two bites of the cherry to keep hold of Sturridges low drive before Cech was called into action at the other end clawing away Sandro’s deflected effort and turning Bale’s cross wide of the near post. Ramires then wasted a glorious chance to win the game with four minutes to go but could only head Juan Mata‘s free kick wide despite being unmarked in the penalty area. The home side also had one last chance in them but Adebayor couldn’t find a way past Terry who had the last laugh ahead of his forthcoming racism charge.
Drogba was absolutely awful again. How does he escape the criticism?
You mean the ball hit John Terry on the back and the goal was wrongly given offside again.