Related News
Sunderland holds Spurs, Stoke wins
Source: Agencies |
November 11, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TOTTENHAM Hotspur suffered another English Premier League setback on Tuesday when it was held to a 1-1 draw by Sunderland at White Hart Lane in London, where a week ago it overwhelmed European champion Inter Milan.
Spurs followed up that memorable victory by losing 2-4 to Bolton Wanderers on Saturday and their hopes of edging back towards the top four were further hampered by Steve Bruce's Sunderland.
The hosts started well and Tom Huddlestone crashed an early shot against a post.
Spurs though could not find a way through until the 64th minute when Gareth Bale, destroyer-in-chief against Inter, crossed for Peter Crouch to nod the ball down for Rafael van der Vaart to score his seventh goal of the season.
The lead lasted only three minutes as a defensive mix-up between Younes Kaboul and William Gallas allowed Asamoah Gyan to nip in for the equalizer.
"Once we scored, I couldn't see us not winning - they'd not really had a shot," Spurs manager Harry Redknapp said. "We suddenly get the mix-up and it all changes."
Spurs and Sunderland started the day side by side in seventh and eighth positions on 15 points and ended it one point and one place better off.
The night's other match was full of action as Birmingham City, 0-2 down at Stoke City, fought back to 2-2 for the second time in four days only for the hosts to snatch a winner after four successive league defeats.
Stoke led through Robert Huth's first-half effort and Ricardo Fuller's dazzling solo effort after 71 minutes.
Birmingham, which rallied to earn a 2-2 draw against West Ham United on Saturday, did so again with two goals in two minutes by Keith Fahey and Cameron Jerome.
Dean Whitehead then seized on some ragged defending to bundle in Stoke's winner five minutes from time.
The rest of the Premier League were in action yesterday with Manchester City's game against Manchester United the pick of the fixtures.
Goal-scoring form
Meanwhile, Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is confident he will soon be back in his best goal-scoring form after his long-running illness was finally diagnosed as malaria this week.
The Ivorian has been in and out of the team in recent weeks because of a fever but it was only on Monday that doctors told him he had been suffering from malaria.
"I want to score every game but when you can't, when you're not 100 percent, it's better to try a way to help your teammates, maybe creating assists, maybe defending a little bit more," Drogba told Chelsea TV ahead of yesterday's London derby with Fulham.
"I think I'll get better and start to score again and if that's what people want I think I can do that."
Drogba started the season with a hat-trick against West Bromwich Albion on August 14 but since then he has managed just two goals from open play for Premier League leader Chelsea.
"When you don't know exactly what it (the illness) is and it's not treated, it can come and go," he said.
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said on Tuesday the medication Drogba was now taking should completely eradicate the illness inside two days.
Spurs followed up that memorable victory by losing 2-4 to Bolton Wanderers on Saturday and their hopes of edging back towards the top four were further hampered by Steve Bruce's Sunderland.
The hosts started well and Tom Huddlestone crashed an early shot against a post.
Spurs though could not find a way through until the 64th minute when Gareth Bale, destroyer-in-chief against Inter, crossed for Peter Crouch to nod the ball down for Rafael van der Vaart to score his seventh goal of the season.
The lead lasted only three minutes as a defensive mix-up between Younes Kaboul and William Gallas allowed Asamoah Gyan to nip in for the equalizer.
"Once we scored, I couldn't see us not winning - they'd not really had a shot," Spurs manager Harry Redknapp said. "We suddenly get the mix-up and it all changes."
Spurs and Sunderland started the day side by side in seventh and eighth positions on 15 points and ended it one point and one place better off.
The night's other match was full of action as Birmingham City, 0-2 down at Stoke City, fought back to 2-2 for the second time in four days only for the hosts to snatch a winner after four successive league defeats.
Stoke led through Robert Huth's first-half effort and Ricardo Fuller's dazzling solo effort after 71 minutes.
Birmingham, which rallied to earn a 2-2 draw against West Ham United on Saturday, did so again with two goals in two minutes by Keith Fahey and Cameron Jerome.
Dean Whitehead then seized on some ragged defending to bundle in Stoke's winner five minutes from time.
The rest of the Premier League were in action yesterday with Manchester City's game against Manchester United the pick of the fixtures.
Goal-scoring form
Meanwhile, Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is confident he will soon be back in his best goal-scoring form after his long-running illness was finally diagnosed as malaria this week.
The Ivorian has been in and out of the team in recent weeks because of a fever but it was only on Monday that doctors told him he had been suffering from malaria.
"I want to score every game but when you can't, when you're not 100 percent, it's better to try a way to help your teammates, maybe creating assists, maybe defending a little bit more," Drogba told Chelsea TV ahead of yesterday's London derby with Fulham.
"I think I'll get better and start to score again and if that's what people want I think I can do that."
Drogba started the season with a hat-trick against West Bromwich Albion on August 14 but since then he has managed just two goals from open play for Premier League leader Chelsea.
"When you don't know exactly what it (the illness) is and it's not treated, it can come and go," he said.
Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said on Tuesday the medication Drogba was now taking should completely eradicate the illness inside two days.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
