Villas-Boas still eyes title after Spurs draw

Chelsea coach defends Terry in his 1st match since being charged.

LONDON: Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas believes his side are still very much in the English title race after Daniel Sturridge’s goal earned them a 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday.

Sturridge cancelled out Emmanuel Adebayor’s early strike midway through the first half to leave Chelsea 11 points shy of Premier League leaders Manchester City.

John Terry – in his first appearance since being charged with a racially aggravated public order offence – was partly at fault for Adebayor’s goal but made a crucial block in injury time to ensure that his side finished with
a point.

Villas-Boas saw the performance as evidence that his philosophy of introducing an attractive, passing game to Chelsea was starting to produce results.

“In terms of our title challenge, it keeps it alive,” said Villas-Boas. “The draw punishes us a little bit in terms of the league. We are still in it. If we take six points from our next two home fixtures, we are pretty much in it.

“We came to Tottenham who are also title challengers and it is a good point to get. We have been in a worse situation than this and I am sure we can further shorten the distance.”

The focus was on Terry ahead of the match after the Crown Prosecution Service charged him on Wednesday with racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand during Chelsea’s loss at Loftus Road in October.

But Villas-Boas said that Terry’s performances ‘have increased since the incident and his commitment was never in doubt’.

Both sides had chances to win it late on and afterwards Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp was more circumspect than Villas-Boas on his side’s title hopes. Rather than which team would come out on top in May, Redknapp’s main concern was an ever-increasing injury list in a busy period of the season.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2011.