Didier Drogba may have missed a penalty and a golden opportunity to snatch three points, but his return from a malaria-induced absence was all it took to revitalise a Chelsea that had been faltering of late. Chelsea's first half performance, while nowhere near terrible, was indicative of what has been troubling Ancelotti's charges.
Defensively, they were far from the impervious unit that Mourinho moulded, and the fact Tottenham failed to put this beyond a comeback in the first 45 minutes was more attributable to a lack of invention in the final third. Should Van Der Vaart have been on the field, then the result could have been settled before the interval.
Obi Mikel, much maligned outside of West London, was completely anonymous and failed in his task of protecting his backline by deflecting attacks. In fact, in the 45 minutes he played, he failed to make an interception and won just one tackle. Although his pass completion rate was respectible, the vast majority took place in his own half.
Coupled with the absence of Florent Malouda or Salomon Kalou in their own half, Chelsea's full-backs were subject to a string of attacks yet, in what can only be put down to an anomaly of the space-time continuum, it was Paulo Ferreira who managed his job rather well and Ashley Cole who was subject to a continual assault at the hands of Alan Hutton.
Hutton had, by some considerable distance, his best game in a Tottenham shirt. Malouda had very little joy with the ball at his feet, with Hutton and Aaron Lennon combining on a number of occasions to get behind Cole. In previous weeks Peter Crouch had been tasked with prodding the crossed ball into the path of Rafael Van Der Vaart, and Roman Pavyluchenko struggled to get his frame on the end of Hutton's deliveries this evening.
Ferreira was obviously doing something right, as Gareth Bale was kept quiet all evening and his pass completion rate stood only just above 50%. In the final third of the pitch, the usually industrious Bale failed to get past his man and lost the ball on a number of occasions, shown here:
by Guardian Chalkboards
Nicolas Anelka played a massive role in Chelsea's toothlessness. It took the Frenchman 73 minutes to have a shot on target, which proved to be his sole effort to trouble Gomes, and even then managed another solitary effort off target. In 45 minutes Drogba had three efforts, all on target, one of which was so ferocious Gomes had to chuck it into his own net to save himself a hernia.
This wasn't the bulk of Chelsea's Anelka-shaped problem, however, as he lacks the imposing physical nature that Drogba uses to his advantage and, as a result, is forced to lead the line in a very different way. Whereas Anelka might suit a tactic focused on counter-attacking, running onto a defensive-splitting pass, he just cannot exert himself on opposing defenders.
The majority of tackles made by Anelka, both won and lost as shown here, occur in the middle of the park whereas Drogba leads the line in a much more traditional fashion, winning the majority of his challenges against the defensive line. In fact, his equaliser came from outmuscling Michael Dawson, albeit with the use of his arm, and blasting the ball through Gomes.
by Guardian Chalkboards
On the basis of play, a draw is a more than fair result in a game played at a high-tempo with plenty of end-to-end action. John Terry spoke of a revitalised Chelsea in the second half and it is hard to disagree with the captain... Getting Drogba fit and firing on all cylinders has taken on an almighty importance and could yet prove pivotal come May.
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