One point lane?

Three-point lane, a degrading term used in bravado over the years by cheeky Chelsea fans to taunt their London rivals Tottenham Hotspurs.

The witty pun, most certainly does justice to the blues success at White Hart Lane since the formation of the Premier League in 1992.

In twenty Premier League away days to Spurs, Chelsea have asserted their dominance with 9 victories losing on just the three occasions.

However, the term three-point lane doesn’t depict the West-Londoners struggles in recent years. Thursday night’s 1-1 draw meant the Stamford Bridge outfit last recorded a league success on Tottenham’s patch in August 27^th 2005.

Then under the guidance of ‘The Special One’ Jose Mourinho the blues recorded a 2-0 win, with the goals coming courtesy of Asier Del Horno and Damien Duff.

However since then Chelsea’s fortunes have somewhat changed over the years, with the North Londoners starting to make home advantage count. Three draws and as many losses mean Chelsea have failed to win at White Hart Lane in their last six Premier League matches.

The latest encounter was an interesting match with both teams having chances to win it and after Daniel Sturridge’s equaliser and Captain John Terry’s late goal line clearance, perhaps a draw wasn’t a bad result for Chelsea.

Again the late goal conceded at the DW Stadium last weekend would be more frustrating to a Chelsea fan with regards to closing the gap at the top of the table. The important fact is Chelsea didn’t lose at White Hart Lane as a loss would have moved Harry Redknapp’s side 5 points ahead of Andre Villas Boas’ men with a game in hand, which would have quite frankly been worrying for Chelsea.

Chelsea’s inability of late to record a win at a formerly happy hunting ground, might just give the confident Chelsea fan food for thought when dubbing their sides next visit to Spurs as ‘Three-Point Lane’ when the two meet again next season.

Simon Blaquiere
@simonblaquiere1