Spurs surprised the premiership champions when Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov scored the opening goal in the first five minutes. Berbatov was sporting an armband demonstrating his solidarity for Bulgarian nurses, in jail in Libya. He was played through by Lennon when he intercepted a Jermain Defoe pass that had been intended for Ghaly on the right flank, and put the ball past Petr Cech.

Chelsea were soon level when Frank Lampard was able to guide a wayward Ballack shot in to the Spurs goal, Radek Czerny deputising for the injured Robinson could only watch in disbelief.

The visitors restored their goal advantage five minutes later when Michael Essien playing in defence, as club captain John Terry recovers from his injury sustained in the Carling Cup Final, played the ball into his own goal.

Tottenham increased their lead further when Hossam Ghaly broke through the fragile Blues defence and coolly slid the ball under the advancing Petr Cech. Then referee Mike Reilly had a purple patch either side of half time handing out seven yellow cards.

The turning point of the match was the substitution of Berbatov. Once he left the field of play Tottenham seemed to run out of steam. It seemed their trip to Portugal to play in the UEFA Cup on Thursday night was taking its toll. Frank Lampard closed the gap a little when he struck the ball home from six yards when the Tottenham defence failed to clear the Chelsea corner.

Tottenham had chances to get back on track but they could only hit the woodwork and force a few saves from Cech. There was still time for another twist, Chelsea threw everyone forward and adopted a route one style of football. It paid off when Drogba knocked a long ball in to the path of Kalou for the youngster to volley the ball in and draw Chelsea level.