John Terry salvaged a solitary point for Jose Mourinho’s men at White Hart Lane on Saturday as Tottenham Hotspur climbed top of the Premier League log- pending the outcome of Swansea-Arsenal- after both London teams played out a 1-1 draw.
Gylfi Sigurdson gave Andres Villas-Boas’ men a first-half lead, with a low finish after a superb build-up play involving Christian Eriksen and Roberto before Chelsea rang the changes which produced the equaliser 15 minutes from time.
Juan Mata came in for John Obi Mikel at half-time and the move paid off as the Spaniard’s free-kick was headed in by John Terry.
Chelsea striker Fernando Torres was later sent off for a second bookable offence, but the Blues held on for the rest of the game to claim a point a move up to third position on the log.
An Aerial challenge with Spur’s Jan Vertonghen earned Torres an unlucky yellow card in the final ten minutes of the second-half.
It was the first game between Mourinho and Villas-Boas since the Spurs boss parted ways with his mentor, then a Inter Milan, after some successful period of friendship at Porto and Chelsea.
The 1-1 draw which came as the result of 90 minutes of tense and high-octane football, would nevertheless, be an added point up the log for both managers who would have desired victory.
Eriksen was the main creative force for the hosts in the first-half, which was dominated by Spurs, and the £11.5m signing from Ajax escaped Frank Lampard after 19 minutes and played in Roberto Soldado. Sigurdson was the first to reach Soldado’s lay-off, beating Terry to the ball and then slide his finish past Petr Cech.
Spurs wasted opportunities to double their lead just before half-time but Mourinho introduced Mata after the break to help win the midfield battle.
Chelsea grabbed the equaliser when the unmarked Terry timed his run perfectly to glance home Mata’s free-kick.
Villas-Boas made a couple of substirutions just to swing the momentum back in favour of his side but Chelsea held on to a draw despite going one man down when the confrontation between Torres and Vertonghen boiled over with the Spaniard getting sent off for an aerial challenge.
