London, England – Daniel Sturridge scored for the fifth time 1 on Thursday at White Hart Lane.
Emmanuel Adebayor scored after 8 minutes for Tottenham, but Sturridge leveled after 23 minutes, and the score held despite a fantastic match that included a plethora of scoring chances.
Tottenham held onto third place in the standings, two in front of fourth-place Chelsea, which got an inspired performance from under-fire captain John Terry.
Terry, under investigation for alleged racist comments, blocked Gareth Bale's shot inside 2 minutes, but couldn't deny Adebayor minutes later as Tottenham's dominating opening was rewarded.
Bale set up the opener with a long run down the left and sent a cross past two Chelsea defenders - including Terry - to hit Adebayor in stride, and he sent a shot past Petr Cech from deep inside the area.
Sturridge nearly tied the match on 11 minutes when he ran onto rebound from a Juan Mata shot, but launched well over the bar. Sturridge found the opener off a cross from Ashley Cole, as he side-footed home from inside the 6-yard box.
From there, both sides had chances, but could not score.
Didier Drogba hit the left post just before the half-hour mark for Chelsea and Adebayor forced a nice save at the bottom right from Cech in first-half extra time.
Terry's header forced a save from Tottenham goalie Brad Friedel in the 54th as the Blues began the second half in much better form and Ramires wasted another great chance when he headed wide from 6 yards.
Oriol Romeu drove another chance for Chelsea around the right post, then Spurs had one last chance through Adebayor, but Terry slid in to save his shot from inside the 6-yard box 2 minutes into stoppage time.
Chelsea is scheduled to host Fulham on Monday, but the game may be pushed back a day because of a proposed transit strike. Tottenham visits Norwich City on Tuesday.
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