Chelsea Match Thread

Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas: "It was good to get the point. Chelsea were extremely dangerous on the counter-attack. I'm extremely happy how the boys played in the second half. We showed the character that has united us during the season.

"We have to do our job and hope that somebody else slips up. The Premier League is absolutely unpredictable and hopefully it can fall our way.

"Bale had a great game. The stronger he becomes the more aware opponents are of him, and the more players they assign to mark him. But this will make him a batter player - he will have to adapt."

why pick on hudd. he kept the ball moving forward.

dawson ekotto verts walker all rubbish.

we have a super keeper and keep letting in goals because of our defence.

ade man of the match

thought bale was poor. and wish he would take a proper free kick and not them floaty ones

a point is a point not the win we needed but not bad seeing we have not won at the bridge for years .
if only ade played all season like tonight man of the match well done ade .thought the defending was a bit suspect at times and our 2 central defenders left gapping holes .parker looks tired to, tried to hard tonight to break down the marauding chelski midfeild .what a shame with sandro we have missed him this year could have done with him tonight . lets hope we can get 6 points at our last two games and the a*se and chelski drop points wishful thinking i know but it can happen come on you spurs dig deep and finnish on a high .

Gylfi Sigurdsson's late equaliser earned Tottenham a point at Chelsea, but Spurs missed the chance to climb into the Premier League's top four.

Goals from Oscar and Ramires, either side of Emmanuel Adebayor's finish, looked like they would seal a Champions League spot for Rafael Benitez's side.

But Sigurdsson's strike 10 minutes from the end lifted fifth-placed Spurs to within a point of Arsenal in fourth.

Chelsea remain third and are two points clear of the Gunners.

This was the game in hand that Chelsea and Tottenham had over rivals Arsenal, but it was a good result for Arsene Wenger's team with all three now having two games left in their fight for the two remaining Champions League places.

For long spells in a free-flowing game, it was Chelsea who were within a whisker of grabbing the win that would have all-but confirmed a top-four berth.

Not only did they conjure up two clever goals before the break, but they had several opportunities to put the game out of sight after the interval.

As the game wore on, though, Chelsea tired, perhaps understandably so when playing their 66th game of the season.

And in scoring one superb goal and creating another, Adebayor had an inspired game, during an evening when PFA and Football Writers' Player of the Year Gareth Bale was unusually subdued.

Chelsea maintained their unbeaten run against Tottenham at Stamford Bridge going back to 1990 and they began the match at a frantic pace with Juan Mata shooting over twice either side of Chelsea's opener.

When it came after 10 minutes, it was the Spaniard who supplied the corner, with Gary Cahill flicking on for Oscar to head in at the back post.

Spurs probed in the first half too, with Lewis Holtby and Kyle Walker just off target.

With 11 league goals in his last 11 appearances, Bale has been the chief contributor to Tottenham's Champions League ambitions, but he was well marshalled by the Chelsea defence early on.

And Adebayor stepped out the Welshman's shadow after 26 minutes to score a goal which matched some of Bale's superb strikes this season.

The Chelsea defence backed off, in part down to a clever run by Aaron Lennon, but the Togolese player curled deftly into the top corner from 25 yards.

The hosts' lead was restored seven minutes before the break with another good goal, this time from Ramires, who beat Hugo Lloris with a toe-poke after being played through by Fernando Torres.

Although Torres could not end his Premier League goal drought, the Spanish forward was proving a menace as Chelsea threatened the Spurs goal several times after the break.

The 'Three Amigos' of Mata, Oscar and Eden Hazard were sweeping through the Tottenham midfield and only a Ramires slip denied them a further goal when he was set to shoot.

Given that Chelsea played nine games in April, their energy was admirable and their lead looked comfortable.

But their concentration appeared to dip towards the end and Tottenham stole a hugely valuable point when Benoit Assou-Ekotto fed Adebayor and a smart backheel set up substitute Sigurdsson for a smartly-taken goal.

Bale fired over as Spurs searched for a winner but a draw was still a decent return after Chelsea wasted so many chances.

thought the dempsey sub was wrong. should of been defoe.

hudd did have a mixed game.

but the back 4 was awfull.

vis you cant talk about how much the chelsea midfeild is worth because the southampton mifdelid cost nothing and outplayed us

lloris 6 distubrtion was poor
walker.7 extra point for effoer but he was caught out of postion so many times.
dawson same as above. extra point for taking the ball in hes boatrace.
verts 7 the best of the defence but they all look like strangers.
ekotto 6. he wont be here next season as first choice.

parker5 fault for both goals
hudd 5 so many bad passing. tired towards the end
holtby.5 for effort but just runs around .
bale5 very poor.
lennon. 3. rubbish again.
ade10. great goal great hold up play. wanted to win.

subs
dempsey 5stupid sub. should of been defoe.
stigersoon. 8 changed the game

to many players below par in our bigest game of the season. not good enough.

Like Vis said, one of Hudds strong points is his dead ball delivery and it was shocking tonight. We lacked mobility in midfield, it's only when Demble don't play, you can see how slow we are, when Sandro and Dembele play together we have a great central midfield. We looked shaky at the back, no wonder when you have to cover for a left back that has gone missing since he came back from injury. There will be a couple more twists and turns, no one gave us a chance against Citeh and not many on here backed us for even a point tonight, Cheatski looked tired late on and they play Villa away Saturday who have found a bit if form and need the points,then Europa league final on Wednesday and then Everton at home last game,everyone assuming both a*se and Cheatski win both heir games, what happens if one of them draw.

Both Newcastle and Villa need points and we all know Wigan have a knack of shock results,so come on everyone, we have been with out key players this season and when have we ever taken so many points off the top teams.

but our goal differnce is really bad.
i can see villa getting a point aganst them but not the win.

cant see wigan beating arsenal so soon after the cup final

Loughtonguy wrote:but our goal differnce is really bad.
i can see villa getting a point aganst them but not the win.

cant see wigan beating arsenal so soon after the cup final

Lought, providing we beat Stoke, a draw would be ok.

i thought hudd done okay. people forget he was up aganst mata oscar hazard ect..

he did get the ball moving in chelsea half in that second half.

hes dead balls was not great but i seen worse when modric used to take them.

what about bale and that stupid free kick.
it worked agans basil but ever since its look poor.

i wanted him to hit the ball propley

i thought he had a decent second half.

better then seeing parker and dembele togeather.
least hudd was playing the ball forward