An Unsatisfying Draw Is Still a Good Result for Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur picks up their seventh draw of the season and second draw in four London derbies this year.

Today’s 0-0 draw against Chelsea was a fine example of Tottenham being fatigued from their Thursday night Europa League fixture against Qarabağ FK, while also traveling nearly 5,000 miles in a round-trip flight.

The fact that Mauricio Pochettino chose a strong starting eleven for both matches, with only six total changes made for both games, three apiece: Danny Rose/Ben Davies, Kyle Walker/Kieran Trippier, Mousa Dembélé/Dele Alli meant that it would have been a close game against Chelsea from start to finish. Which it ultimately became.

RELATED: Key Battles: Tottenham v Chelsea

That’s not to say that a draw is a bad result. It surely isn’t what Tottenham needed right now though, considering that they were two points behind Arsenal and four points behind Manchester United upon entering into today’s match at White Hart Lane.

But this is a case of getting any points that you can, a draw today against Chelsea, and living with that result. It’s a positive sign that Tottenham are going places when the players and coach, supporters even, are disappointed with a draw but accept the fact that Spurs are climbing up the league table still. Slowly but surely.

That being said, when a manager tends to favor two competitions (the Premier League and Europa League) and plays a strong lineup for nearly the entire game, there will moments like today where the team isn’t able to respond as well. Granted, Tottenham did very well with minimal rest and training sessions — or lack thereof.

Moving on, there are still some positives to take from this match… as well as some negatives. But first, the good news from the game.

Positives:

• Érik Lamela made his return following a minor injury during the international break
• Clinton N’Jie is fully fit to play again after making a return in the Europa League
• Spurs dominated the game in possession, pass success, dribbles, aerial duels and total shots
• Spurs’ defense helped Hugo Lloris keep a clean sheet (fifth in the Premier League and sixth in all competitions)
• Tottenham remain unbeaten in 13 Premier League games (and unbeaten in their last seven in all competitions)

And now onto the negatives of the game, which is slightly worse than the positives.

Negatives:

• Tottenham dominated the game in key categories, but couldn’t score a goal
• Spurs were clearly fatigued as they couldn’t unlock a disciplined Chelsea defense who were content to sit seven to eight defenders and wait it out, knowing full well that Tottenham wouldn’t continuously make runs into the box due to tired legs
• Ryan Mason picked up an apparent ankle/knee injury (if it’s a knee injury it could be the same one that Mason injured against Sunderland)
• Tottenham picked up four yellow cards and while Chelsea players went down too easily, getting booked in the end doesn’t help
• Jan Vertonghen and Kyle Walker are now one yellow card away from a one game suspension, they have four bookings on the season already after today’s match
• Érik Lamela was a bit rusty due to missing two games (one game suspension and injury)
• Mousa Dembélé picked up a slight knock during the game and although he finished the full 90 minutes with no problem, this is something to keep an eye on

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Up next, Spurs will be on the road against West Bromwich Albion on December 5th, which is six days from now.

This gives the team enough time to fully rest and recover for a busy stretch of the season before the January transfer window opens up.

Depending on how the league table looks like at the end of the day on matchday 14, it’s apparent that Tottenham will be short of a top four spot for the time being.

Right now, despite Ryan Mason’s injury and Nabil Bentaleb, Nacer Chadli and Alex Pritchard still recovering, depth isn’t that much of an issue just yet. However with that being said, it would behoove Tottenham to still sign a couple of midfielders to rotate around, a center-back to move on from Federico Fazio and pair up with Kevin Wimmer and the all important out-and-out backup striker for Harry Kane.

Next: Matchday: Tottenham 0-0 Chelsea

Other than that, 13 Premier League games unbeaten is quite an achievement even if seven of those games — more than half — are draws. A point is a point and it’s better than losing to a struggling Chelsea side. But Tottenham needs to get back on the win column once again, as their last Premier League win before the 4-1 hammering of West Ham, was a 3-1 win over Aston Villa on November 2nd.