Source: Telegraph
Defeat costs Chelsea title chances at Tottenham Hotspur
With Manchester United's capitulaton there was the opportunity to reduce the gap at the top of the Premier League to a single point but in a manner that had the home faithful crowing all the way down Tottenham High Road, Chelsea also met defeat and that could prove crucial in the final reckoning. [LNB]It was Chelsea's first reverse in eight games under their Dutch interim manager and they could have no complaints. Tottenham harried them from the first whistle, created the better goalscoring opportunities and after Luka Modric shot them ahead at the start of the second half they proved they had the resilience to shut out the threat from Drogba & Co. [LNB] Related ArticlesPremier League action[LNB]Latest standings and statistics[LNB]Premier League Round-up: Wayne Rooney sees red as Fulham stun Manchester United[LNB]Ricardo Quaresma's magic fails to lift Chelsea's gloom[LNB]Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea player ratings[LNB]Tottenham Hotspur's Darren Bent scores twice to defeat nine-man Manchester City[LNB]Chelsea were ragged late on, Frank Lampard over-hitting a free-kick into the stands while Ricardo Quaresma did the same with a crossing opportunity. Nevertheless it took a tremendous save from Heurelho Gomes to deny John Terry and then fortune favoured the hosts in added time as Alex's header came back off the bar for the goalkeeper to flap away. [LNB]Hiddink is too experienced a manager to know though that Chelsea deserved nothing more. 'With Manchester United losing these are the moments that you have to strike and we couldn't do it,' he said. 'It was a missed opportunity but we said before that there's not only pressure on United but on those chasing them as well.' [LNB]A 30-minute delay following a security scare put both sets of supporters in good voice at the start and Spurs responded to the urgings of their followers by hounding their opponents. Darren Bent and Jermaine Jenas were particularly aggressive in the early stages and denied Chelsea the foothold they wanted. [LNB]A couple of tricky runs from Aaron Lennon kept the expectancy levels high but it was Chelsea who threatened first when Gomes needed two attempts to grasp Michael Essien's low effort. [LNB]Spurs responded with a Jenas drive that only narrowly cleared the angle of bar and upright. A Robbie Keane volley after Alex had misjudged the bounce of the ball brought Petr Cech into action and he remained the busier of the two goalkeepers as Keane and Modric continued to probe away with intelligence. [LNB]Didier Drogba took a whack to the head from Ledley King as they challenged for a high ball and, left groggy, chose to make an early exit for the dressing-room near the end of the first half. [LNB]He was there at the restart but it was to witness his side falling behind. Chelsea will look back at two contributory factors to the goal. A moment's complacency by Michael Ballack meant they didn't clear their lines cleanly and then they switched off to allow two Spurs players to ghost into space on the edge of the area as Lennon cut the ball back. [LNB]Either Keane or Luka Modric could have taken advantage and for a moment it looked as if they were going to get in each other's way. Keane backed off, leaving the Croatian to sweep home his second league goal of the campaign. [LNB]'It was sloppy defending,' said Hiddink, 'and we had told them to get through the first 10 minutes of the second half and then we could take control. Sometimes with gifted players they look to make the perfect pass but they just have to clear it. When you're in the kitchen and it's steaming you have to extinguish the fire.' [LNB]An identical move might have brought a second but this time Modric shot into the ground. At the other end Spurs needed Gomes to be fully alert when Drogba tried to blast one in at the near post. His reflexes were never better demonstrated that when he kept out Terry as all Chelsea's late endeavours came to nought, pushing Spurs up into the top half of the table. [LNB]'It was well deserved over the 90 minutes,' said Harry Redknapp. 'The only time they got at us was in the last 15 minutes when they started launching it.' [LNB]
