Blues back on track despite Drogba’s miss

DIDIER DROGBA may have missed a golden opportunity to end his club’s Premier League crisis after seeing a 90th-minute penalty saved at White Hart Lane but Chelsea still left north London with an overwhelming sensation that a corner had been turned both in their season and in the title race.

On the face of it, a 1-1 draw leaves Tottenham in fifth place and Chelsea only four points above them in fourth following a miserable run that now extends to only one league victory in their last seven matches.

But the overall performance of Carlo Ancelotti’s under-pressure side after he controversially left Drogba on the bench suggests some of the club’s problems are starting to be resolved.

Certainly they reacted well to a 15th-minute goal from Roman Pavlyuchenko that threatened to give Tottenham all three points – Drogba equalising after coming on as a substitute at half-time to make a strong point.

Then there was the return to action of Frank Lampard after 77 minutes, his first match since undergoing hernia surgery in August, and an excellent performance from captain John Terry, comfortably his best since recovering from a nerve problem in the back of his right let.

“That’s more like the Chelsea we all know,” said Terry afterwards. “I thought we deserved to win and it’s a shame we didn’t. But I think we were getting back to normal.

“We had the spirit, the determination and we pressed a little bit better. We’ve got two huge games coming up against Man United and Arsenal and we need to win them.”

Those are the kind of fighting words you would expect from Terry and although they didn’t win the game there must be some relief in the Chelsea camp that they didn’t lose after Tottenham made an excellent start.

In an open game played in a high octane atmosphere, it was the home side who had the greater and more potent cutting edge in the early stages and that point was amply demonstrated in the 15th minute when Jermain Defoe made an excellent cross-field run to the left flank to pick up a long ball — and then crossed low for strike partner Pavlyuchenko.

The Russian had plenty of work left to do but his first touch, with his left foot, took him past both Terry and Mikel and his next touch sent the ball smashing past Petr Cech for 1-0.

For Chelsea it was a huge blow but they responded with two headers from Salomon Kalou and then brought on Drogba for Mikel at half-time in a bid to change the tide.

The arrival of the Ivorian saw the visitors switch to a 4-4-2 formation to match Tottenham’s system, something Ancelotti has seemed reluctant to do this season despite their recent problems.

It made an instant difference to Chelsea’s performance because Drogba certainly gave his side more potency, almost immediately forcing Gomes into a smart save before the Tottenham keeper also reacted superbly to keep out a header from his own player Wilson Palacios.

But Drogba was not to be denied and in the 70th minute he out-muscled and out-manoeuvred a tiring Michael Dawson, playing his first match after two months out injured, before smashing a left-foot shot that Gomes embarrassingly allowed to slip through his grasp and into the net.

Drogba, who hadn’t scored from open play in 10 games, chose not to celebrate; instead puffing out his chest and glaring into the crowd and into any awaiting cameras as if to say “how dare you doubt me”.

He has a point, of course. The goal was his 37th in the last 48 Premier League games and given the fact he has been suffering for so long from malaria, his recent barren spell (which still included a penalty against Everton) can surely be forgiven.

He had a wonderful chance to win it, too, when Gomes clearly bundled over Ramires — unnecessarily, it has to be said — in the 90th minute.

But despite the presence of regular penalty taker Lampard on the pitch, Drogba grabbed the ball himself and saw his effort well saved by the Brazilian, diving smartly to his left.

Tottenham’s Harry Redknapp felt a draw was a fair result, and he is probably right; but there was no doubting that Ancelotti was the happier of the two managers after a hugely entertaining game.

“The performance of the team was good and for this reason we are happy. We didn’t win but I think we are on the right way and the difficult moment is off our back,” the Italian said.

It’s not often you hear that kind of confidence after a missed penalty in the last minute; but this title race is so precariously balanced, he may just be right.