London: Didier Drogba came off the bench on Sunday to earn Chelsea a 1-1 draw at Tottenham, although the striker wasted a chance to clinch his team's first Premier League win for a month when he missed an injury-time penalty.
Roman Pavlyuchenko had put the home side ahead in the 15th minute but Drogba, who entered the game at halftime, equalised midway through the second half when he latched onto a bouncing ball in the area and smashed a shot at goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, who fumbled it over the line.
In the second minute of added time, Gomes then barged Ramires over in the area following a flick on by Drogba.
Instead of putting the resulting penalty to the goalkeeper's right — as he had done for his four previous kicks — Drogba hit it the other way and Gomes made a comfortable save to stretch Chelsea's run without a win to five league matches.
Chelsea still moved level on points with third-place Manchester United but United can leapfrog Manchester City and provisional leader Arsenal if it beats the Gunners on Monday.
"We fully deserved to win the game," Chelsea captain John Terry said. "We dominated them. That's more like the Chelsea we all know."
But Chelsea has now lost three and drawn two of its last five matches at White Hart Lane.
Chelsea enjoyed the best of the opening exchanges at White Hart Lane until Pavlyuchenko took a pass inside the area from fellow striker Jermain Defoe and pushed it laterally past two defenders with his first touch before scoring with a firm shot low past goalkeeper Petr Cech at his near post.
Nicolas Anelka had an equaliser ruled out for offside just before halftime and Gomes made two good second-half saves before his mistake gave Drogba his eighth league goal of the season.
Drogba appeared to handle the ball as he challenged defender Michael Dawson but the defender hesitated as he turned toward his own goal, giving Drogba time to get there first. Drogba lashed a shot at Gomes and although the goalkeeper blocked it, the pace of the ball caused it to spin off his gloves and up over his head into the goal.
It was Drogba's 37th goal in his past 48 Premier League matches.
Both teams went for the win, Tottenham introducing Peter Crouch and Robbie Keane as Chelsea's Frank Lampard made his first appearance for three months as a 78th-minute substitute.
Chelsea moved to 31 points, still four clear of fifth-place Tottenham.
"When we were down, we did not lose control. We maintained composure," Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti said. "We were very close to winning and we will win the next game."
Chelsea's next match is on Sunday, against Manchester United.
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