The two London sides drew a stalemate today as both sides lost ground on Arsenal, but Tottenham remain in pole position for the fourth and final Champions League spot.
In fairness it was a poor first half, neither side making the goalkeeper work. The second half was more exciting, both sides hitting the woodwork, but both goalkeepers remained unbeaten.
The game started slowly, Chelsea twice nearly forcing openings, but both times, the boisterous Scott Parker was there to intercept.
Spurs started to dictate the pace of the game, and the away side looked happy enough to keep the tempo slow, although Drogba nearly created a golden opportunity on 24 minutes, when his excellent ball across found no-one, apart from the boot of Younes Kaboul who cleared to safety.
The home side had a shout for a penalty as it seemed Frank Lampard was clipped in the box, although under muted appeals, nothing was given.
The first real chance came for Spurs, and it was a big chance. The ball fell kindly for Van Der Vaart 10 yards out, but somehow Cech palmed it out, giving the Dutch midfielder a second chance, which was blocked by Ashley Cole, before Adebayor headed over.
Few people would have predicted a 0-0 scoreline at half -time, but strangely enough, it was the 5th time a row that Chelsea had been 0-0 at the break in the league.
Chelsea had yet to break down the visitors and the crowd were getting frustrated, although those frustrations nearly turned into relief when Juan Matas curling free-kick had Friedel beaten, only to see the ball crash back off the woodwork to safety.
Torres and Saha came on, but neither side were able to keep up a spell of pressure, though Spurs had a great chance to take the lead, when Adebayor did well to skip around Cech, but saw his goal bound effort stopped by Cahill who was rushing back. From the resulting corner, Bale saw his header cannon the crossbar, but they couldn’t force the ball back into the danger zone from the clearance.
In fairness, no side looked like they would take the points, and Tottenham would be much the happier, as this kept them 5 points clear of Chelsea in fourth, and although they lose ground on neighbours Arsenal, they will take fourth at the moment, especially after their recent run of results.
By Brad Smith