Chelsea drop to fourth

Drogba misses penalty chance to win against Spurs in the Premier League.

LONDON: Chelsea missed the chance to go top in the English Premier League after Didier Drogba saw a late penalty saved in a 1-1 draw away to Tottenham Hotspur.

Tottenham opened the scoring in the 15th minute courtesy Roman Pavlyuchenko, which was equalised by Drogba 20 minutes from time.

Gomes then produced a fine save to deny Drogba, who took the spot-kick even though regular penalty-taker Frank Lampard was on the field.  Later, Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said Lampard was not in a position to take the penalty. Had the penalty gone in and Chelsea won, the Blues would have gone top. Instead they stayed fourth. “I thought we deserved to win, especially in the second half, we dominated,” said Chelsea captain John Terry, after the Blues avoided a fifth defeat in
nine games.

Meanwhile, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp said a draw was a “fair result”, adding, “This says we are as good a side as almost anybody. We can give anybody a game.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2010.