Tottenham Hotspur came out playing good football and in the first half the goal that they scored was well constructed but eventually it was the determination of Gylfi Sigurdsson that brought about the goal. He was tackled and was going to ground but still, kept his head, and managed to slip in the ball past Cech.
Spurs created some good opportunities down the right side - through good one touch passing and eventually Paulino found himself in front of goal with only Cech to beat. But he made a hash of the chance and had he looked up. he would have seen a teammate in a better position to score. Besides Sigurdsson, Townsend was the stand out player for Spurs - he was brilliant in keeping the ball in possession, neat passing and great in passing the through ball.
It was a pity that Soldado and Paulino did not come into the game a wee bit more.
Chelsea did not fire at all in the first half. Oscar, Torres and Hazard did not look like scoring nor did they have any real opportunities of scoring. Chelsea's defence and midfield were busy trying to keep the Spurs attack at bay.
Chelsea hung on and went into the break, happy I am sure, to be just one down.
The second half started and immediately Mata was brought on. The substitution completely changed the complexion of the game. Now with Mata on, Torres was freed from his shackles and was all over the place creating scoring opportunities - one of which Oscar could not convert. Torres was galvanized into action and was making the Spurs defence look vulnerable and inevitably, the defenders began to wilt under pressure and the fouls kept mounting. On one of the moves, Ramires was brought down and Mata took the indirect free kick. Mata found the lunging John Terry's head and there it was - Chelsea's equalizer. On another occasion, Chelsea's Schurrle had a wonderful opportunity of scoring but struck the Spurs goalkeeper.
However after the goal, Chelsea seemed content to go back to defending and this gave Spurs the opportunities to attack. Defoe and the forwards did have a couple of chances but the ball went past by the goalposts - nothing really threatening.
I think an impartial observer would have sided with Spurs on the day but I suppose nobody can really complain with a draw. Neither team was dominant.
