Didier Drogba came off the bench Sunday to earn Chelsea a 1-1 draw at Tottenham, although the striker wasted a chance to clinch his team's first Premier League win for a month when he missed an injury-time penalty.
Roman Pavlyuchenko had put the home side ahead in the 15th minute but Drogba, who entered the game at halftime, equalized midway through the second half when he latched onto a bouncing ball in the area and smashed a shot at goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, who fumbled it over the line.
In the second minute of added time, Gomes then barged Ramires over in the area following a flick on by Drogba.
Instead of putting the resulting penalty to the goalkeeper's right — as he had done for his four previous kicks — Drogba hit it the other way and Gomes made a comfortable save to stretch Chelsea's run without a win to five league matches.
Chelsea still moved level on points with third-place Manchester United, but United can leapfrog Manchester City and provisional leader Arsenal if it beats the Gunners on Monday. "We fully deserved to win the game," Chelsea captain John Terry said. "We dominated them. That's more like the Chelsea we all know."
But Chelsea has now lost three and drawn two of its last five matches at White Hart Lane.
Also Sunday, Stuart Holden scored with two minutes left to help Bolton overcome its fourth red card of the season and beat Blackburn 2-1. Stephen Hunt scored to give Wolverhampton Wanderers a 1-0 win over Birmingham that boosts its attempt to avoid relegation.
Chelsea enjoyed the best of the opening exchanges at White Hart Lane until Pavlyuchenko took a pass inside the area from fellow striker Jermain Defoe and pushed it laterally past two defenders with his first touch before scoring with a firm shot low past goalkeeper Petr Cech at his near post.
Nicolas Anelka had an equalizer ruled out for offside just before halftime and Gomes made two good second-half saves before his mistake gave Drogba his eighth league goal of the season.
Drogba appeared to handle the ball as he challenged defender Michael Dawson but the defender hesitated as he turned toward his own goal, giving Drogba time to get there first. Drogba lashed a shot at Gomes and, although the goalkeeper blocked it, the pace of the ball caused it to spin off his gloves and up over his head into the goal.
It was Drogba's 37th goal in his past 48 Premier League matches.
Both teams went for the win, Tottenham introducing Peter Crouch and Robbie Keane as Chelsea's Frank Lampard made his first appearance for three months as a 78th-minute substitute. "Credit to Chelsea, they're champions and they don't give up," Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp said. "It says that we're as good a side as almost anybody. We'll only get stronger."
Chelsea moved to 31 points, still four clear of fifth-place Tottenham. "When we were down, we did not lose control. We maintained composure," Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "We were very close to winning and we will win the next game."
Chelsea's next match is Sunday, against Manchester United.
At Bolton, Blackburn's Mame Biram Diouf had just equalized but Holden burst forward following the resulting kickoff to run onto a flick by Kevin Davies and half-volley past goalkeeper Paul Robinson from just outside the area.
The American midfielder's second goal of the season lifted Bolton to sixth place and 26 points, just six behind Arsenal. "What I loved was that, having lost an equalizer so late in the game and being down to 10 men, it would be easy to feel sorry for yourself," Bolton manager Owen Coyle said.
"But with this group, their first instinct was to go forward and to try to win it, even with 10 men."
Bolton took the lead shortly after going down to 10 men, bringing on Fabrice Muamba as a 58th-minute substitute moments after midfielder Mark Davies was sent off for a second yellow card.
Muamba, an England under-21 midfielder, had been on the field for just seven minutes when he cut inside defender Ryan Nelsen to score with a low shot to the near post.
But Diouf, the Senegal striker on loan at Blackburn from Manchester United, made Blackburn's pressure and numerical advantage count in the 87th. Diouf collected a pass from Jason Roberts, held off a defender and lifted the ball over diving goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.
But Holden made sure the tie lasted for only seconds.
Elsewhere, Hunt scored his second goal of the season and Wolves stopped the opposition from scoring for the first time this season to go to 15 points, three clear of last-place West Ham and just one point away from climbing out of the three-team relegation zone.
0 comments:
Post a Comment